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History  of 
The  English  Drama. 


A    BRIEF   HISTORY 


OF   THE 


ENGLISH  DRAMA 


From  the  Earliest  to  the  Latest  Times 


WILLIAM    ECHARD   GOLDEN,    A.  M. 


New  York 

WELCH,    FRACKER    COMPANY 

1890 


COPYRIGHT    1890,    BY    WELCH,    FRACKER    CO. 


PREFACE. 


The  treatment  of  a  subject  of  such  extent 
and  importance  as  the  one  I  have  chosen,  is 
beset  with  many  and  peculiar  difficulties. 
These,  during  several  years'  careful  study,  I 
have  endeavored  to  overcome.  How  success- 
ful I  have  been,  must  be  left  for  my  readers 
to  decide.  My  object  has  been  to  give  as 
concise  an  historical  and  literary  account  of 
the  drama,  its  origin,  development  and  present 
status  as  may  be  embraced  in  a  brief  course 
of  lectures.  I  have  necessarily  consulted 
many  works  of  reference  and  taken  copious 
notes.  I  am  also  indebted  for  suggestions 
to  Dr.  A.  V.  W.  Jackson,  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege, and  Professor  O.  B.  Clark,  of  Indiana 

University. 

W.   E.   GOLDEN. 


LECTURES. 


I.  The    Mystery,    Miracle    and    Moral 

Plays, r 9 

II.  The  Predecessors  of  Shakespeare,     .     34 

III.  Shakespeare, 74 

IV.  Ben  Jonson  and  His  Contemporaries  in 

V.  From  the   Restoration  to  the  Close 

of  the  Eighteenth  Century,    .     .     .154 

VI.   The  Nineteenth  Century,      ....   196 


THE    ENGLISH    DRAMA. 


THE    MYSTERY,    MIRACLE    AND    MORAL    PLAYS. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  century  Thomas 
Sharp,  editing  a  treatise  on  the  Coventry 
Mystery  Plays,  had  occasion  to  remark,  in  the 
introduction  to  his  work,  that  while  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  Stage  had  been  investi- 
gated with  a  perseverance  and  minuteness  of 
research  that  scarcely  left  any  expectation  of 
additional  facts  remaining  undiscovered,  our 
Religious  Dramas  or  Mysteries,  the  unques- 
tionable groundwork  of  the  Stage,  had  been 
treated  in  a  very  superficial  and  unsatis- 
factory manner. 


io  The  English  Drama. 

That  Mr.  Sharp  was  right  in  his  statement 
then  is  undoubted,  but  I  do  not  believe  it  is  so 
applicable  at  present.  Since  his  book  ap- 
peared, and  doubtless  partly  owing  to  its  ap- 
pearance, a  great  deal  of  careful  labor  and 
investigation  has  been  expended  on  this  com- 
paratively unworked  field  of  English  litera- 
ture. Ward  has  written  his  history  ;  Lucy 
Toulman  Smith  has  edited  the  York  Plays. 

There  are  three  grand  classes  or  kinds  of 
poetry :  the  lyric,  the  epic,  the  dramatic. 
And  of  these  the  dramatic  is  the  highest,  for 
it  is  not  only  a  different  class,  but  it  may  also 
include  either  or  both  of  the  others. 

Song  is  a  primary  mode  of  expression  for 
the  emotion.  Hence  it  is  common,  in  one 
form  or  another,  in  some  degree  of  excel- 
lence, to  nearly  all,  if  not  to  all,  peoples. 

A  connected  narrative  exacts,  however,  a 
higher  order  of  intellect  than  is  necessary  for 
the  appreciation  and  understanding  of  a  song. 
Attention  is  required.  The  powers  of  com- 
parison, of  judgment,  of  reflection  are  called 
into  use.  All  persons  are  not  capable  of  this. 
Therefore,  that  which  appeals  to  a  higher 
order  of  mind  for  comprehension  must  neces- 
sarily belong  to  a  higher  class  of  work. 

There  are  nations  that  have  been  capable 


The  English  Drama.  n 

of  the  production  and  appreciation  of  the 
song  and  the  narrative,  that  is  to  say,  of 
lyric  and  epic  poetry ;  but  there  are  no 
nations  that  have  not  reached  a  certain  intel- 
lectual development  that  have  produced  the 
last  and  highest  form  of  poetry,  the  dramatic. 
I  do  not  include  in  this  rather  sweeping  asser- 
tion the  peoples  who,  by  religious  conviction, 
not  by  intellectual  incompetence,  have  been 
restrained  from  production  in  this  depart- 
ment. 

The  powers  of  abstract  thought  necessary 
for  the  conception,  even  more  than  the  com- 
prehension of  the  dramatic  form,  denotes  a 
certain  stage  of  civilization  that  need  not  be 
demanded  by  either  the  lyric  or  epic.  ,A 
savage  can  feel  a  song,  can  understand  a 
story.  To  comprehend  a  play  something 
more  is  necessary. 

I  would  have  it  understood  that  I  am  speak- 
ing of  these  poetical  forms  as  being  in  their 
simplest  undeveloped  state.  I  make  no  as- 
sertions of  the  highly  perfected  productions 
the  best  age  of  literature  has  produced,  ex- 
cept this,  to  name  the  primal  and  eternal 
order  of  poetical  work. 

There  have*  been  three  great  dramatic 
epochs  :  viz.,  the  Greek,  the  Spanish  and  the 


12  The  English  Drama. 


English.  It  is  on4y  with  the  last  of  these 
that  we  are  concerned. 

Undisputedly  the  modern  drama,  of  whicl] 
the  English  is  a  branch,  sprang  not  from  the 
domain  of  literature  but  from  religious 
worship. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  the  modern  is  an 
offspring  of  the  ancient  drama.  This  is  in  no 
sense  the  truth.  There  are  links  of  connec- 
tion between  the  two,  but  one  did  not  origin- 
ate in  the  other.  Indeed,  if  the  origin  of  the 
Greek  drama  itself  be  sought  for,  it  will  be 
found,  as  is  that  of  the  modern,  in  religious 
worship. 

Returning  to  the  modern  drama,  and  seek- 
ing for  the  direct  occasion  of  its  ontgrowth, 
we  shall  find  that  the  best  authorities  are 
agreed  that  the  idea  was  first  conceived,  and 
the  comprehension  first  acquired  of  the  play, 
by  the  liturgy  of  the  mass.  "  That,"  says 
Ward,  "  is  the  original  mystery." 

The  liturgy  of  the  mass  is  a  service,  familiar 
to  all  Roman  Catholics,  performed  by  an  in- 
dividual, or  association  of  individuals,  on  be- 
half of  the  community.  This  is  a  public  per- 
formance of  a  religious  office  of  paramount 
importance.  It  includes  the  Confession  of 
sins,  the  Credo,  Agnus  Dei,  etc.,  etc. 


The  English  Drama.  13 

If  any  one  has  ever  been  in  a  Catholic  church 
during  such  a  service,  he  will  readily  perceive 
that  it  is  really  a  sacred  performance.  The 
priests  in  their  robes,  the  illusions  of  vest- 
ments and  ornaments,  the  responses  of  the 
congregation,  all  go  to  imprint  a  dramatic 
stamp  upon  the  service. 

It  is  not  remarkable  then  that  from  the 
church  service  should  spring  a  means  by 
which  the  valgus  should  be  instructed  and 
amused,  nor  that  the  priests  should  be  the 
first  to  produce  this  means. 

Few  in  early  times  could  read.  The  Bibles, 
for  a  long  period,  were  in  Latin  only.  Books 
were  very  rare,  and  very  valuable.  During 
the  middle  ages,  the  higher  aspirations, 
emotions  and  ideas  of  the  people  were  clus- 
tered around  the  church.  In  their  religious 
worship  alone  did  they  find  the  expression 
of  their  spiritual  natures.  In  the  stories  of 
the  Bible,  and  later  of  the  saints,  therefore, 
they  felt  the  deepest  interest. 

Realizing  the  neccessity  of  satisfying  in 
some  degree  and  in  their  own  way  this  want 
of  the  people,  and  also  to  oppose  the  plays  of 
the  Gentiles  and  to  supersede  the  profane 
dancing,  music,  etc.,  at  the  ancient  fairs,  the 
priests  arranged  the  Scriptural   stories  in  a 


14  The  English  Drama. 

form  that  could  at  once  instruct  and  interest 
their  flocks. 

Voltaire  says  that  Gregory  Nazianzen 
wrote  in  the  fourth  century  his  play  of  Christ's 
Passion,  and  others  of  the  same  kind,  in  order 
to  oppose  the  dramatic  works  of  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans.  There  seems  little  rea- 
son to  doubt  this. 

Certain  it  is  that  Hroswitha,  the  Benedic- 
tine nun  of  Gandersheim,  wrote  sacred  plays 
in  the  tenth  century,  to  counteract  the  effect 
of  the  plays  of  Terence.  She  even  took  her 
antagonist's  works  as  a  model  for  her  own. 

In  1 1 19  the  Mystery-play  of  St.  Kathcftine 
was  presented  at  Dunstaple  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  monk  named  Geoffrey.  This  kind 
of  production  was  common  in  London  before 
the  close  of  the  century.  The  plays  were  writ- 
ten at  first  in  Latin  and  French,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  that  they  were 
permanently  succeeded  by  English  versions. 

Collier  says  that  no  country  of  Europe, 
since  the  revival  of  letters,  has  been  able  to 
produce  any  notice  of  theatrical  perform- 
ances of  so  early  a  date  as  England.  And  the 
love  of  the  drama  seems  ever  since  to  have 
been  characteristic  of  the  people  of  England 
and  their  descendants. 


The  English  Drama.  15 

The  oldest  form  of  dramatic  composition 
in  our  language  is  the  Mystery  Play.  Con- 
cerning these  early  compositions  there  has 
been  considerable  confusion  as  to  the  differ- 
ent classes  into  which  they  should  be  arranged, 
and  the  proper  nomenclature  applicable  to 
these  classes.  At  the  time  that  they  were 
written  and  performed,  no  distinction  was 
made,  and  none  was  probably  thought  of. 
They  were  all  plays.  Ward  and  other  lead- 
ing authorities  have  made,  however,  three 
divisions  of  these  early  works,  which  I  shall 
accept. 

The  first  dramatic  compositions,  extending 
over  some  three  hundred  years,  and  after  the 
appearance  of  the  drama  in  its  present  form, 
we  shall  treat  of  under  three  heads,  viz.:  the 
Mystery  Plays,  the  Miracle  Plays,  the  Moral 
Plays. 

The  Mystery  Plays  deal  only  with  Scriptu- 
ral passages,  stories  from  the  Bible. 

The  Miracle  Plays  deal  with  legends  con- 
cerning saints  of  the  church. 

The  Moral  Plays  deal  with  allegory. 

The  earliest  of  these  three  classes  to  appear 
was,  as  I  have  said,  the  Mystery  Play.  Accept- 
ing the  theory  that  from  religious  worship, 
from  the  liturgy  immediately,  the  drama  was 


1 6  The  English  Drama. 

derived,  the  first  subjects  to  be  treated  of  we 
would  naturally  look  for  in  the  Scriptures. 
And  we  would  find  them  there. 

A  number  of  isolated  plays  treating  of  some 
one  biblical  story  exists  ;  as  Parfre's  Candel- 
mas-Dayy  which  treats  of  the  massacre  of 
the  innocents,  and  the  flight  into  Egypt,  the 
Conversion  of  Saul,  and  Mary  Magdalene.  This 
last  is  the  most  remarkable  and  most  elabor- 
ate of  the  single  plays. 

Until  within  the  last  few  years,  in  fact  as 
late  as  the  publication  of  Ward's  History  of 
English  Dramatic  Literature,  it  has  been 
usual  to  assert  that  there  were  but  three  con- 
nected series  of  Mystery  Plays.  But  the  pub- 
lication of  a  MSS.  in  the  library  of  Lord  Ash- 
burnham,  edited  by  Lucy  Toulman  Smith, 
has  added  one  more  series  to  this  list.  This 
very  valuable  contribution  includes  the  York 
Plays. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  these  plays 
had  never  yet  seen  the  light.  Scholars  have 
known  since  Thoresby's  History  of  Leeds  was 
published  that  such  a  collection  existed  ;  but 
no  one  before  Lucy  T.  Smith  seems  to  have 
more  than  hastily  glanced  at  them. 

The  history  of  the  volume  is  curious.  It 
was  the  book  wherein  the  plays,  performed  by 


The  English  Drama.  17 

the  crafts  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  sixteenth 
centuries,  with  the  sanction  and  authority  of 
the  corporation,  were  "  registered "  by  the 
city  officers  and  it  must  therefore  have  be- 
longed to  the  corporation.  It  was  at  one 
time  in  the  care  of  the  priory  of  Holy  Trinity, 
in  Micklegate.  At  the  time  of  the  Reforma- 
tion various  attempts  were  made  to  amend 
the  book  of  plays,  as  is  shown  both  by  many 
notes  scattered  through  its  leaves  and  by  no- 
tices in  the  municipal  records  ;  but  in  spite  of 
these  the  plays  ceased  to  be  performed  about 
1580,  not  being  able  to  withstand  the  spirit 
of  the  times.  What  now  became  of  the  book 
is  doubtful.  Until  1579  at  least  it  remained 
in  the  possession  of  the  city.  Later  it  is 
known  to  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Fairfax  family.  In  1695  Ralph  Thoresby 
owned  it  and  at  the  sale  of  Thoresby 's  collec- 
tion, in  1 764,  Horace  Walpole  bought  it  for  jQ\ 
is.  At  Walpole's  sale  Thomas  Rodd,  a  book- 
seller, gave  ^220  ioj\,and  sold  it  to  Mr.  Hey- 
wood  Bright,  of  Bristol,  in  1842,  for  ^"235.  At 
the  dispersion  of  this  gentleman's  collection, 
in  1844,  Mr.  Thorp  bought  it  for  ^305  for  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Russell,  and  it  was  afterwards 
sold  to  the  late  Earl  of  Ashburnham. 

This  valuable   book   consists  of   two  hun- 


1 8  The  English  Drama. 

dred  and  seventy  leaves  of  parchment,  forty- 
eight  of  which  are  blank.  It  is  bound  in  the 
original  wooden  binding,  once  covered  with 
leather,  which  is  now  much  torn  and  in  rather 
bad  condition.  The  blank  pages  at  the 
beginning  and  end  have  been  nibbled  by 
mice.  Scattered  through  the  volume  are 
frequent  small  alterations,  or  corrections. 

A  series  of  Mystery  Plays,  as  the  phrase  is 
here  used,  means  a  number  of  plays  that, 
taking  up  the  Bible  story  with  the  creation  or 
before,  carry  it  through  the  sacred  narrative 
and  even  to  doomsday.  Of  such  series 
there  are  four,  viz.: 

i.  The  Chester  Plays. 

2.  The  Coventry  Plays. 

3.  The  Towneley  Plays. 

4.  The  York  Plays. 

These  are  by  no  means  all  the  series  that 
were  produced,  but  they  are  all  that  remain. 

Mystery  Plays  are  recorded  to  have  been 
given  at  Dunstaple,  London,  Cambridge, 
Canterbury,  Winchester,  Worcester,  Slea- 
ford,  Reading,  Lincoln,  Shrewsbury,  Witney, 
Preston,  Lancaster,  Kendall,  Beverly,  Wake- 
field, New-Castle-on-Tyne,  Leicester,  Edin- 
burgh, Heybridge,  Dublin,  etc.,  etc.  Indeed, 
they  were  common  all  over  the  kingdom. 


The  English  Drama.  19 

It  is  incredible  that  out  of  all  these  places 
only  four  should  have  produced  a  series  of 
plays.  Yet  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the 
celebrity  of  the  four  preserved  far  exceeds 
that  of  those  which  are  lost,  and  may  in  part 
account  for  their  preservation. 

The  authorship  of  these  plays  cannot,  with 
any  degree  of  certainty,  be  accredited  to  any 
one  man  in  any  known  instance.  They  are 
rather  to  be» taken  as  the  work  of  many  men 
at  many  times.  A  play  was,  without  doubt, 
rewritten  when  emergency  demanded.  Or  it 
may  have  been  separated  into  two  or  more 
plays.  On  the  other  hand,  several  plays 
were  combined  into  one  at  times.  The  rea- 
sons for  these  alterations  are  apparent. 

Although  the  Mystery  Plays  were  originally 
written  and,  perhaps,  represented  by  priests, 
in  course  of  time,  partly  on  account  of  the 
disapproval  of  the  high  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties, partly  on  account  of  other  difficulties, 
the  presentations  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  common  people  ;  that  is,  the  city  guilds 
or  trades. 

When  the  performances  came  to  be  held, 
each  guild  had  assigned  to  it,  as  its  own  play, 
some  part  of  the  Scriptures.  The  guilds  gave 
their  plays  in  succession,  so  that  the  guild 


The  English  Drama. 


which  had  for  its  subject  the  Creation,  should 
first  perform,  and  the  guild  whose  subject 
was  Doomsday,  should  be  the  last  to  be 
seen.  By  this  means  the  whole  story  of  the 
Bible  was  narrated. 

But  the  number  of  guilds  was  not  always 
the  same.  Trades  arise  from  necessity,  and 
from  lack  of  necessity  disappear.  When 
armor  ceased  to  be  worn,  armor  making 
ceased  to  be  a  trade.  With  the  abandonment 
of  the  bow  and  arrow  went  the  Fletchers  and 
Bowmen.  In  our  own  time  we  have  seen  old 
trades  vanish  and  many  new  ones  appear. 

Now,  however  the  number  of  guilds  varied, 
the  story  remained  the  same.  Hence  it  was 
necessary,  at  times,  to  combine,  at  other  times 
to  separate  the  plays.  Also  it  is  to  be  noted 
that,  while  it  was  usual  for  each  guild  to  have 
its  play,  yet  it  is  quite  common  for  several 
guilds  to  unite  in  the  presentation  of  a  play. 

The  Chester  Plays,  twenty-five  of  which 
remain,  were  annually  performed,  with  some 
interruptions,  from  1268  to  1577,  at  Chester, 
England.  The  plays,  as  was  usual,  took  their 
name  from  the  place  in  which  they  were  given. 
The  authorship  has  been  assigned  by  some  to 
Ralph  Higden.  But  this  is  improbable, 
though    he    may   have   contributed    towards 


The  English  Drama. 


their  production.  They  were  given  begin- 
ning Whit-Monday  and  continuing  until 
Wednesday.  Of  these  plays  there  are  two 
manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum  ;  the 
earlier  dated  1600  and  the  other  1607.  The 
plays  are  unequal  in  merit.  They  follow  the 
text  of  the  Gospel  very  closely  and  contain 
but  little  legendary  matter.  The  lamenta- 
tion of  Mary,  which  occurs  in  these  plays,  is 
a  common  subject  of  English  verse  in  manu- 
scripts of  various  dates.  One  or  two  short  ex- 
amples will  be  found  in  the  Reliquia  Antiquce. 
Another  popular  character  of  the  mediaeval 
religious  literature  is  Longius,  the  blind 
knight,  who  pierced  the  side  of  the  Saviour 
with  his  spear,  and  recovered  his  sight  by  the 
water  that  trickled  from  the  wound  on  his 
eye.  Although  containing  comparatively  lit- 
tle legendary  matter,  as  has  been  remarked, 
yet,  in  the  Chester  Plays,  as  in  the  other  series 
of  Mysteries,  there  are  to  be  found  plays  that 
are,  strictly  speaking,  Miracles  ;  as  "  The 
Harrowing  of  Hell"  the  eighteenth  play. 
The  legend  which  forms  the  subject  of  this 
play,  so  very  popular  in  the  middle  ages,  was 
taken  from  the  apocryphal  Gospel  of  Nico- 
demus.  It  forms  a  separate  play  in  the 
Towneley  and  Coventry  series,  though  in  the 


The  English  Drama. 


latter  it  is  very  brief.  The  twenty-second 
play,  "  Ezechiel"  appears  to  be  peculiar  to 
the  Chester  collection,  and  is  a  curious  speci- 
men of  the  manner  in  which  the  Gospel  was 
expounded  to  the  vulgar. 

Ludus  Coventrize,  the  Coventry  plays, 
forty-two  in  all,  were  presented  during  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  at  Coventry. 
They  were  acted  at  other  places  also.  The 
MSS.  was  written  at  least  as  early  as  the 
reign  of  Henry  VII.,  and  is  now  preserved  in 
the  Cottonian  collection  of  MSS.  Its  history 
is  wrapped  in  obscurity.  The  Coventry  Mys- 
teries were  performed  on  the  feast  of  Corpus 
Christi,  the  favorite  time  for  such  exhibitions 
in  England.  They  acquired  considerable 
celebrity  and  attracted  immense  multitudes 
to  the  city.  Even  royalty  visited  the  town  in 
order  to  witness  the  plays.  In  i486  Henry 
VII.  was  present  at  the  performance  on  St. 
Peter's  day,  and  in  1492  he  again  attended, 
and  this  time  with  his  queen. 

The  Towneley  Plays  number  thirty-two. 
They  take  their  name  from  the  circumstance 
that  the  MSS.  in  which  they  have  been  pre- 
served formed  part  of  the  library  in  Towneley 
Hall,  Lancashire.  Their  composition  is  prob- 
ably due  to  the  Friars  of  Woodkirk  or  Nostel. 


The  English  Drama.  23 

Being  written  in  the  dialect  of  the  district  in 
which  they  were  acted,  and  containing  a  large 
number  of  Scandinavian  words,  they  are  quite 
difficult  to  read.  The  MSS.  appears  to  date 
from  about  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. 

The  York  Plays,  as  enumerated  in  Liber 
diver  sorum  memorandum  civitatem  ebor  tar  gen- 
tium, one  of  the  oldest  books  that  the  city  of 
York  now  possesses,  in  141 5  numbered  fifty- 
one.  In  the  second  list  fifty-seven  plays  are 
named.  Lord  Ashburnham's  MSS.  contains 
forty-eight.  These  plays,  on  examination, 
are  found  to  correspond  more  to  the  first  than 
the  second  list.  The  probable  date  of  the 
MSS.,  such  as  that  of  all  of  the  mysteries,  is 
between  1430-1440.  The  date  of  the  author- 
ship is  very  much  earlier  ;  it  may  be  a  cen- 
tury. Both  internal  and  external  evidence 
point  to  this  fact.  Reference  is  made  to  these 
plays  in  1378,  and  again  in  1394,  as  belonging 
to  the  old  time.  The  internal  evidences  are 
the  metre  and  style.  There  is  much  skill  in 
versification  shown.  Rhyme  and  alliteration 
both  are  used.  The  language  is  in  a  stage  of 
transition.  The  York  Plays,  sometimes  called 
Corpus  Christi  Plays,  from  the  time  at  which 
they  were  given,  continued  to  be  played  until 
1568.       Then    the     church     interfered,    and 


24  The  English  Drama. 

although  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to 
change  the  opinions  of  the  clergy,  they  were 
unsuccessful,  for  before  1600  the  performances 
of  the  "York  Mysteries"  were" discontinued. 
The  characteristics^  these  plays  were  :  clear- 
ness and  precision  in  the  narrative,  adherence 
to  the  Bible  story,  simplicity,  directness  and 
completion  of  plan.  They  compare  favorably 
in  diction  and  verse  with  the  better  specimens 
of  Middle  English  Northern  poetry.  The 
York  cycle  forms  an  important  contribution, 
for  it  is  as  a  whole  the  most  complete  collec- 
tion. It  is  free  from  much  of  the  coarse  fun 
and  "groundling"  incident  which  were  intro- 
duced into  the  Coventry  and  Towneley  plays. 
The  last  named  are  written  in  the  same  dia- 
lect as  the  York  cycle,  and  five  of  them  are 
the  same  as  five  of  the  York  Plays,  with  cer- 
tain passages  cut  out  or  modified. 

The  place  of  exhibition  was  sometimes  a 
church,  sometimes  the  halls  of  corporations, 
but  most  frequently  the  open  street.  The 
street  was  preferred  because  greater  multi- 
tudes could  be  accommodated,  and  also  to 
suit  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  the  plays 
were  represented. 

The  plays  were  divided  according  to  the 
trades-guilds    of    the    city.     Each  play  was 


The  English  Drama.  25 

given  by  one  or  more  corporations,  which  fur- 
nished and  brought  forth  a  vehicle  to  be  used 
as  a  movable  stage.  These  vehicles  usually 
consisted  of  two  platforms,  one  above  the 
other.  The  one  above  was  open  and  was 
where  the  play  was  given.  The  lower  one 
was  closed,  generally  with  curtains,  and 
served  as  a  dressing  place  for  the  actors.  It 
is  said  that  this  lower  room  was  often  used  to 
represent  hell,  and  the  devils  always  issued 
forth  or  were  consigned  to  this  lower  room  as 
their  abode.  A  third  platform  above  the 
other  two  was  sometimes  used  to  represent 
heaven.  This  platform,  however,  was  not 
common  to  the  "  English'Mysteries."  Ricco- 
bini,  in  his  history  of  the  French  stage,  says 
that  in  France  the  theatre  showed  paradise, 
heaven,  hell  and  the  earth  all  at  once.  From 
which  we  infer  that  the  triple  or  quadruple 
platform  was  peculiar  rather  to  the  "  French 
Mysteries"  than  to  those  of  England.  In 
later  days  we  have  borrowed  something  else 
from  the  French  pertaining  to  these  early 
plays,  viz.:  the  appellation  "  Mysteries. " 
They  were  not  so  called  in  England,  but  in 
France  the  name  was  always  given.  The 
vehicles,  in  both  countries,  upon  which  the 
plays  were  given  were  movable,  being  either 


26  The  English  Drama. 

on  four  or  six  wheels,  and  usually  were  drawn 
by  men.  This  moving  about  was  accom- 
panied with  great  difficulty,  owing  to  the 
rude  construction  of  the  vehicles. 

In  York  the  order  of  procedure  was  as  fol- 
lows :  In  solemn  procession,  one  vehicle  after 
the  other,  first  at  the  great  gates  of  the 
Priory  of  the  Holy  Trinity  ;  next  to  the  Cathe- 
dral Church  of  York,  afterwards  to  the  Hospi- 
tal of  St.  Leonard,  etc.,  etc.  The  proces- 
sion was  preceded  by  a  vast  number  of 
lighted  torches,  and  a  great  multitude  of 
priests  in  their  proper  habits,  followed  by 
the  mayor  and  the  citizens,  with  a  prodigious 
crowd  of  the  populace  attending. 

Originally  each  vehicle  was  called  a  page- 
ant. Afterwards  the  word  pageant  came  to 
imply  the  show  as  well  as  the  stage.  Finally 
it  was  applied  to  the  whole  series  of  shows 
whence  the  modern  meaning.  As  used  in  the 
following  account  of  an  exhibition  of  the  Cov- 
entry Plays  the  word  evidently  means  the 
individual  plays. 

"  The  place  where  they  played  them  was  in 
every  street.  They  began  first  at  the  Abay 
gates,  and  when  the  first  pagiante  was  played, 
it  was  wheeled  to  the  high  cross  before  the 
mayor,  and  soe  to  every  street,  and  soe  every 


The  English  Drama.  27 

street  had  a  pagiante  playing  before  them  at 
one  time,  till  all  the  pagiantes  for  the  day  ap- 
pointed were  played,  and  when  one  pagiante 
was  near  ended,  word  was  brought  from  street 
to  street,  that  soe  they  might  come  in  place 
thereof,  exceeding  orderlye,  and  all  the  streets 
have  their  pagiantes  afore  them  all  at  one  time 
playing  togeather." 

Some  details  of  these  performances  and 
their  appurtenances  will  not  be  uninteresting. 

Music  was  furnished  by  men  called  min- 
strels or  waits,  according  as  to  whether  they 
were  employed  for  the  pagiantes  or  by  the 
city.  These  musicians  had  silver  badges  and 
chains  provided  at  the  expense  of  the  city. 
It  appears  that  the  musicians,  being  employed 
chiefly  in  processions  and  other  open  air 
exhibitions,  used  wind-instruments,  such  as 
pipes,  bag-pipes,  trumpets,  etc. 

At  Coventry  a  person  '  was  appointed 
"  dresser"  of  each  pageant.  In  the  course  of 
the  performance  ale  was  given  to  the  players, 
and  in  the  Smith's  pageant  Pilate,  being  a 
principal  personage,  was  allowed  wine. 

In  the  list  of  machinery  used  in  the  Drap- 
er's pageant  there  is  included  : 

A  Hell-mouth  (a  fire  kept  in  it). 

An  Earthquake. 


28  The  English  Drama. 

A  Link  to  set  the  world  on  fire. 

Puipits  for  the  angels. 

How  the  effects  were  produced  is  not  how- 
ever very  clearly  explained. 

Amongst  the  characters  of  one  play  are 
named  "Two  Worms  of  Conscience." 

Banner  bearers  proclaimed  the  argument  of 
each  pageant.  Usually  these  men  were  styled 
Vexillatores,  but  in  Chester  they  were  known 
as  Banes  or  Banns. 

Besides  the  Corpus  Christi  and  Whit- 
suntide plays,  there  were  other  pageants  as 
that  of  Hoke-Tuesday  or  Hoke-Tide,  and 
also  for  particular  occasions,  as  in  1416,  when 
Parliament  was  held  in  the  Priory  at  Coven- 
try, and  again  in  1455,  when  Queen  Margaret 
visited  the  city. 

In  the  Religious  Mysteries  the  devil  was  a 
favorite  and  very  prominent  character.  In  the 
Miracle  and  Moral  plays  he  is  likewise  found. 
In  the  latter  he  has  a  constant  attendant 
called  Vice,  who  was  always  the  buffoon  of 
the  piece.  The  devil  was  usually  represented 
with  a  very  wide  mouth,  staring  eyes,  a  large 
nose,  a  red  beard,  cloven  feet,  and  a  tail. 

Judas,  in  accordance  with  the  popular 
belief,  was  represented  always  with  red  hair 
and  beard. 


The  English  Drama.  29 

The  fiends  were  often  exhibited  as  carrying 
the  sins  and  souls  of  men  in  sacks. 

Many  of  these  plays  are  reported  to  have 
been  very  indelicate.  Nevertheless,  they  were 
not  without  their  use,  for  they  both  impressed 
on  the  rude  minds  of  the  unlettered  people 
the  chief  facts  of  their  religion  and  softened 
manners,  which  were  at  that  time  very  gross 
and  impure.  "  They  created  insensibly,"  says 
Mr.  Warton,  "a  regard  for  other  arts  than 
those  of  bodily  strength  and  savage  valor." 

The  Passion  Play  of  Ober  Ammergau 
enables  us  at  the  present  time  to  understand 
the  effect  produced  by  the  Mysteries  and 
Miracles  upon  a  mediaeval  audience. 

As  change  is  the  inevitable  law  of  nature 
in  all  things,  its  force  is  perceivable  in  the 
drama  as  elsewhere.  First  the  mere  biblical 
narrative  satisfied  writer  and  auditor,  as  in  the 
Mysteries.  In  time  the  legends  of  saints 
were  drawn  upon  for  topics  on  which  plays 
might  be  written,  and  we  have  the  Miracle 
Plays.  Next  symbolical  characters,  which 
had  long  held  some  part  in  both  Mystery  and 
Miracle  Plays,  began  to  absorb  the  whole 
action,  and  the  Moral  Play  appeared. 

The  Moral  Play,  we  have  said,  deals  with 
allegory.     That   is    to   say,  its  characters  are 


3<d  The  English  Drama. 


symbolical,  and  its  purpose  is  to  teach 
men  to  live  better  lives.  Early  in  the 
fifteenth  century  this  species  of  the  drama 
appeared,  and  though  the  Mystery  Plays  con- 
tinued to  be  given,  their  popularity  waned 
perceptibly  before  their  younger  rivals. 

The  transition  from  the  Mysteries  and 
Miracles  to  the  Moralities,  was  expedited  by 
their  being  no  essential  difference  in  the  mode 
of  performance.  The  same  vehicles,  or  the 
same  kind,  served  for  the  use  of  the  last  as  it 
had  for  that  of  the  two  preceding  phases. 
However,  they  came  to  be  acted  by  roving 
companies  on  holidays  and  festivals,  in  the 
halls  of  noblemen  and  gentry,  as  well  as  in 
the  open  squares  of  towns.  They  acquired 
the  subordinate  name  of  Interlude  from  the 
custom  of  presenting  them  in  the  intervals  of  ♦ 
banquets  or  of  other  pastimes. 

It  is  probable  that  literary  allegory  and  the 
popularity  of  the  Moralities  in  France,  gave 
rise  to  the  Moralities  in  England.  But  how- 
ever successful  in  Gaul,  they  never  domesti- 
cated themselves  in  Britain  until  they  came 
to  be  connected  with  the  political  and  relig- 
ious questions  which  agitated  the  nation  at 
large,  as  they  did  during  the  Reformation  of 
Henry  VIII. 


The  English  Drama.  31 

The  Moralities  were  composed  during  the 
uncertain  reigns  of  the  first  three  Tudors. 
Hence  they  reflect  the  conflict  of  opinion 
between  Protestantism  and  the  older  faith. 
Some  satirize  bitterly  the  Protestants,  some 
the  Catholics. 

Two  characters  that  were  prominent  in  one 
form  or  another  in  the  Moral  Plays  were  the 
devil  and  his  attendant,  Vice.  Thi°  latter 
character  was  not  derived  from  the  French, 
whatever  else  the  Moralities  may  owe  to  that 
source,  but  was  of  native  origin.  There  is 
no  French  equivalent.  Vice  appears  under 
many  different  names,  such  as  Shift,  Ambi- 
dexter, Sin,  Fraud,  Iniquity,  etc.  He  was 
usually  dressed  in  a  fool's  habit.  Later  the 
character  was  blended  with  the  domestic  fool, 
and  as  such  has  survived  in  the  regular 
drama.  With  Vice  the  idea  of  comedy  in 
the  English  drama  was  first  born. 

A  list  of  Moral  Plays,  belonging  to  the 
reign  of  Henry  VII.,  is  interesting,  if  only  for 
their  names,  which  suggest  the  style  of  piece 
represented. 

1.  The  Castle  of  Perseverance. 

2.  Mankind. 

3.  Nature. 

4.  The  World  and  the  Child. 


32  The  English  Drama. 

5.  Mind,  Will  and  Understanding. 

6.  Everyman. 

7.  Lusty  Juvenilis. 

It  will  be  well  to  take  one  of  these  and 
examine  the  story,  that  we  may  the  better 
understand  the  nature  of  the  whole  class. 
We  will  take  "  The  Castle  of  Perseverance." 

The  subject  of  "  The  Castle  of  Persever- 
ance "  is  the  warfare  carried  on  against 
Hiimanum  Genus  and  his  companions,  the 
Seven  Cardinal  Virtues,  by  the  Seven  Deadly 
Sins  and  their  commanders,  Miindus,  Belial 
and  Caro.  He  is  besieged  by  them  in  the 
Castle  of  Perseverance,  where  Confessio  has 
bidden  him  take  up  his  abode.  In  his  old 
age  he  finally  gives  way  to  the  persuasions  of 
Avaritia.  His  soul  is  at  last  arraigned  by 
Pater  sedens  in  judicio,  but  is  apparently  saved. 

This  is  the  type  of  conflict  between  good 
and  bad  in  man,  as  represented  in  the  Moral 
Plays.  This  class  of  plays  survived  to  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  and  even  into  the  first 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  But  al- 
ready in  the  early  period  efforts  had  been 
made  to  disengage  the  Moral  Play  from  its 
allegorical  setting,  and  to  present  the  pith  of 
its  motives  in  a  form  of  comedyv  The  law  of 
change  was  active  and   showed   itself  in  an 


The  English  Drama.  $$ 

intermixture  of  abstract  and  real  personages, 
then  of  a  division  into  acts  and  scenes  as  in 
"  The  Marriage  of  Witte  and  Reason,"  and 
finally  the  abstract  was  entirely  dispensed 
with,  the  acts  and  scenes  entirely  adopted, 
and  our  Comedy  proper  appeared. 

Stephen  Hawe's  "  Pastime  of  Pleasure  " 
(temp.  Henry  VIII.)  was  the  last  work  of  the 
old  school  of  allegory  in  the  pre-Elizabethan 
literature. 

Amongst  the  most  celebrated  writers  of 
Moral  Plays  we  may  name  Guillaume  Her- 
man, Etienne  Langton  and  John  Skelton. 


34  The  English  Drama. 


II. 


THE    PREDECESSORS    OF    SHAKESPEARE. 

Dramatic  literature  is  that  kind  of  compo- 
sition which  adjusts  itself  to  the  requirements 
of  the  .imitative  art,  acting.  When  the  require- 
ments of  the  imitative  art  are  fully  met  with- 
out detraction  from  the  value  of  the  composi- 
tion, the  highest  object  of  dramatic  literature 
has  been  attained.  But  this  perfect  union  of 
poetry  and  action  is  not  brought  about  in  a 
day.  With  the  drama  it  required  centuries. 
Nor  in  the  limits  of  this  lecture  do  we  treat 
of  the  perfection  afterwards  attained.  Here 
it  shall  be  our  desire  to  observe  the  develop- 
ment of  the  play  to  trace  through^the  several 
stages  that  literary  activity  which  was  to 
make  the  Shakespearean  drama  possible. 
Between  the  liturgy  and  "  Hamlet  "  lies  an 
apparently  impassible  gulf.  It  would  be 
ridiculous  to  suppose  that  the  one  immedi- 
ately proceeded  from  the  other.  It  is  only 
when  we  fill  in  the  intervening  gap  with  the 
Mysteries,  Miracles  and  Moralities,  when  we 


The  English  Drama.  35 

remark  how  the  religious  element  at  first  all- 
predominant  and  all  pervading  is  gradually 
eliminated,  and  how  worldly  objects  and 
personages  little  by  little  supplant  and  finally 
exclude  it,  that  we  begin  to  perceive  the  con- 
nection. When  the  Mystery  Play  appeared, 
the  idea  of  religious  worship  pertaining  to 
the  liturgy  was  lost.  With  the  introduction 
of  the  Miracle  Play  there  was  a  slight  but 
still  more  perceptible  deviation  in  proportion 
as  the  events  and  personages  ceased  to  be 
scriptural  and  became  legendary.  In  the  com- 
position of  the  Moral  Plays  the  religious  idea 
was  merged  into  that  of  the  moral  as  sacred 
characters  were  into  allegorical.  But  from 
the  earliest  times  there  were  those  who 
endeavored  to  seize  upon  the  substance  of  the 
Moral  Play,  and  dispensing  with  allegorical 
accompaniments  mould  it  into  the  form  of 
Comedy  or  Tragedy. 

Midway  between  the  Moralities  and  the 
drama  proper  we  find  three  works  represen- 
tative of  the  struggle  to  free  the  play  from 
allegory.  These  three  compositions,  Bale's 
"  King  Johan,"  "  Appius  and  Virginia"  and 
"  Cambyses,"  have  been  appropriately  styled 
Hybrids,  which  name  I  shall  adopt.  Partly 
moralities  and   partly  tragedies,  the  Hybrids 


36  The  English  Drama. 

are  chiefly  interesting  as  illustrations  of 
dramatic  evolution.  "  King  Johan  "  is  deserv- 
ing, probably,  of  special  mention,  as  it  is  the 
first  attempt  in  the  language  to  dramatize  the 
Chronicles,  and  might  be  placed  with  con- 
siderable propriety  at  the  head  of  a  list  com- 
prising what  afterwards  came  to  be  known  as 
Chronicle  Plays.  "  Appius  and  Virginia" 
treats  in  a  very  crude  manner  the  well-known 
story  of  the  Roman  maiden.  "  Cambyses," 
the  Eastern  tyrant,  furnishes  the  subject  for 
the  third  play.  The  poetry  of  these  pieces  is 
sing-song  and  puerile,  indicative  of  its 
infancy. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  later  Morali- 
ties appeared  a  peculiarly  English  phase  of 
the  drama ;  the  Interlude.  This  type,  the 
invention  of  John  Heywood,  on  account  of 
its  wit  and  humor,  shines  forth  pleasantly 
from  all  the  wearisome  literature  of  the 
Moralities.  It  deserves,  then,  some  special 
treatment  from  the  pen  of  a  grateful  student. 

An  interlude  is  a  dialogue,  mirthful,  with- 
out intrigue,  exhibiting  characters  not  by 
action  but  by  contrast  and  arrangement,  the 
motive  of  which  is  furnished  by  a  witty  situa- 
tion. Sometimes  it  partook  of  the  character 
of  a  Morality,  as  in  "  The  Play  of  the  Weather  " 


The  English  Drama. 


37 


and  "  The  Play  of  Love."  As  a  rule,  how- 
ever, it  corresponded  in  form  to  the  Latin 
Disputationes.  Some  few  pieces,  as  "  The 
Four  P's,"  constitute  a  separate  class.  This 
phase  of  dramatic  evolution  was  not  destined 
long  to  continue.  In  a  few  years  the  Inter- 
ludes became  almost  as  archaic  as  they  are  at 
the  present  day.  Other  influences  were  to 
produce  a  different  type  which  should  for- 
ever replace  the  Interlude.  At  the  time  of 
their  composition  no  equally  artistic  dramatic 
works  existed. 

John  Ileywood,  the  originator  of  the  Inter- 
lude, was  a  Londoner,  a  graduate  of  Broad- 
gate  Hall,  now  Pembroke  College,  Oxford. 
He  was  a  staunch  Catholic  and  a  fierce  oppo- 
nent of  the  Reformed  Church.  During 
Henry  the  Eighth's  and  Mary's  reigns  he  was 
in  high  favor  at  Court,  but  died  in  exile  at 
Mechlin  in  1565.  Despite  his  zeal  and  suffer- 
ings for  his  faith,  he  was  not  blind  to  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  church.  This  he  bitterly  satir- 
ized and  fearlessly  exposed.  His  literary 
style  is  homely,  sensible,  shrewd  and  witty. 
His  writings  belong  to  the  first  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

When  to  Heywood's  faculty  of  character 
painting  was  added  the  power  of  construct- 


38  The  English  Drama. 

ing  a  story,  a  plot,  we  have  the  essential  ele- 
ments for  the  production  of  comedy.  From 
the  Moralities,  through  the  aid  of  the  Inter- 
ludes and  the  examples  furnished  by  the 
Latin  and  Italian  dramatists,  comedy 
emerged.  As  the  story  became  prominent 
and  began  to  share  the  interest  with  the  study 
of  character,  Comedy  differentiated  into  that 
of  character  and  that  of  incident,  which  latter 
is  the  higher  as  well  as  the  later  develop- 
ment. 

The  earliest  regular  comedy  in  the  English 
language,  an  honor  long  mistakenly  attribu- 
ted to  "Gammer  Gurton's  Needle,"  is  Nicho- 
las Udall's  "Ralph  Roister  Doister."  The 
only  known  early  copy  of  this  comedy  is  in 
the  library  of  Eton  College,  from  which  ^ave 
been  printed  at  different  times  of  late  years 
numerous  editions.  The  play  was  licensed 
and  probably  first  printed  in  1566,  but  is 
supposed  to  have  been  composed  and  per- 
formed even  before  1551,  in  which  year  it  is 
quoted  in  Wilson's  "Rule  of  Reason." 

"  Ralph  Roister  Doister,"  written  by  a 
scholar  and  schoolman,  shows  the  influence 
of  classic  models  both  in  the  construction  of 
a  plot  and  in  the  handling  and  division  of  the 
subject.     In  this  play  we  leave  the  grotesque- 


The  English  Drama.  39 

ness  and  allegory  of  the  middle  ages  and 
enter  into  the  field  of  actual  and  natural  life. 
The  comedy  founded  on  Plautus'  "  Miles  Glo- 
riosus"  has  for  its  story  the  courtship  and 
rejection  of  a  cowardly,  vain-glorious  brag- 
gart, who  gives  his  name  to  the  piece.  None 
of  the  requisite  components  of  comedy  are 
wanting,  such  as  ridiculous  and  serious  per- 
sonages, amusing  events,  misunderstandings, 
temporary  perplexity  and  a  final  satisfactory 
adjustment  of  everything.  As  regards  the 
general  plan  and  spirit  of  the  work  it  differs 
little  from  many  modern  works  of  mediocrity, 
and  with  revision  might  be  as  suitable  for 
representation. 

Nicholas  Udall,  the  author  of  "  Ralph  Roi- 
ster Doister,"  born  about  1505,  in  Hampshire, 
was  a  Protestant.  He  was  a  student  at 
Oxford  and  afterwards  headmaster  at  Eton 
College  and  later  of  Westminster  School. 
He  was  a  man  of  learning  and  gained  consid- 
erable fame  by  translating  some  of  Erasmus' 
Latin  Paraphrases  of  the  New  Testament. 
Udall  died  in   1556. 

Some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  after  the  pro- 
duction of  "  Ralph  Roister  Doister,"  that  is 
to  say,  in  1566,  a  vastly  inferior  work,  John 
Still's    "Gammer     Gurton's     Needle,"     was 


40  The  English  Drama. 

played  in  Christ  College,  Cambridge.  A 
comedy  in  five  acts  (it  might  better  be  termed 
an  elaborated  farce).  It  is  built  on  the  circum- 
stance of  an  old  woman  losing  her  needle, 
the  whole  village  being  thrown  into  confu- 
sion in  consequence,  and  the  final  discovery  of 
the  missing  needle  in  the  seat  of  her  servant's 
trousers.  Needles  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  very  plentiful  at  the  time,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  disturbance  caused  by  the 
loss  of  this  one.  The  piece  is  coarse  and 
vulgar,  but  humorous  and  vigorous.  The 
existence  of  "  Ralph  Roister  Doister,"  in 
every  way  a  much  better  work,  does  not 
seem  to  have  at  all  affected  "  Gammer  Gur- 
ton's  Needle."  It  may  occasion  surprise  that 
such  a  play  should  have  been  the  composition 
of  a  scholar,  and  furnished  enjoyment  to 
other  scholars,  who  themselves  represented 
it.  But  the  cause  for  surprise  is  rather  that 
Udall's  comedy  should  have  been  produced 
at  a  time  when  all  classes  relished  and  de- 
manded just  such  coarseness  and  obscenity 
as  we  find  in  "  Gammer  Gurton's  Needle." 

John  Still  [b.  1543 — d.  1607-8],  the  author 
of  the  second  earliest  comedy  in  our  lan- 
guage, son  of  William  Still,  Esq.,  of  Grant- 
ham, in    Lincolnshire,    graduated    at   Christ 


The  English  Drama.  41 

College,  Cambridge,  and  entering  the  church 
was  rapidly  preferred,  finally  becoming 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-three  Still  wrote  the  play  which  com- 
mends him  to  our  notice.  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  in  later  life,  when  Vice-Chancellor  of 
Cambridge,  he  was  called  upon  to  oppose  the 
performance  of  an  English  play  before  Queen 
Elizabeth  at  the  University  as  unbefitting  its 
learning  and  dignity. 

There  were  many  reasons  why  Comedy 
should  precede  Tragedy  in  dramatic  evolution. 
The  fun-making  scenes  in  the  Moralities  were, 
in  reality,  foreign  matter,  and  could  be  de- 
tached and  acted  alone.  Comedy  appeals  to 
a  wider  audience.  Latin  models  can  be  easily 
followed.  Not  so  difficult  of  invention  as 
Tragedy,  as  it  requires  less  imagination  and 
deals  with  more  familiar  objects  ;  a  certain 
love  of  jesting  and  buffoonery  innate  *in  the 
English  race.  All  these  reasons  conspired  to 
produce  our  early  Comedy  before  Tragedy, 
and  some  of  these  influences  are  visible  later 
in  the  Romantic  drama,  and  even  in  our  plays 
of  to-day. 

The  solemnity  of  the  liturgy  was  replaced 
in  the  Mysteries  and  Miracles  by  a  feeling  of 
serious   sacredness.      This   in    its   turn   was 


42  The  English  Drama. 

supplanted  by  a  serious  moral  feeling  in  the 
Moralities.  This  recognition  of  the  sober 
side  and  responsibilities  of  life  has  always 
permeated  the  drama.  From  the  first  it  is 
seen  to  be  an  essential  part  of  a  play's  exist- 
ence. As  this  serious  element  is  found  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  so  do  we  find  the 
varieties  of  the  drama  from  the  Tragedy  to 
the  Farce.  In  the  latter  it  is  barely  notice- 
able ;  in  the  former  it  absorbs  everything 
else.  From  the  Mysteries,  Miracles  and 
Moralities  then,  aided  by  the  Chronicle  His- 
tories, Seneca  and  his  Italian  imitators,  was 
Tragedy  derived. 

The  history  of  this  phase  of  our  drama  is 
interwoven  with  that  of  an  attempt  to  enforce 
the  rules  of  classical  composition  on  the 
dramatists  of  England.  When  the  attention 
of  learned  and  cultured  men  was  attracted 
by  the  stage,  they  endeavored  to  impose  upon 
it  the  regulations  then  accepted  throughout 
Europe  and  particularly  in  Italy,  as  indicative 
of  good  taste  and  style.  At  that  time,  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  Renaissance,  that  had 
begun  in  Italy  two  centuries  before,  and  had 
enthroned  that  country  as  the  intellectual 
leader  and  superior,  was  making  its  influence 
felt  in  England.     There  was  soon  a  group  of 


The  English  Drama.  43 

English  classical  scholars  as  brilliant  as  any 
in  Europe.  These  scholars  were  profoundly 
impressed  and  influenced  by  their  Italian 
models,  and  though  the  independent  English 
spirit  became  more  and  more  manifest,  they 
have  never  entirely  shaken  off  this  influence. 
Nor  would  that  be  desirable.  Surrey  and 
Wyatt  introduced  the  sonnet  and  blank  verse 
from  Italy.  Spencer's  "  Fairy  Queen  "  was 
modeled  after  the  Italian  romantic  epics. 
Translations  of  Italian  novels  flooded  the 
book-stalls,  and  to  these  do  we  owe  some 
of  our  most  charming  and  valuable  plays  of 
Shakespeare  and  others.  It  is  only  natural 
that  the  Latin  and  Italian  dramas  should  be 
imitated  by  scholars.  Seneca,  a  faulty  imi- 
tator of  the  Greek,  was  chosen  as  the  model 
playwright.  In  his  plays  he  has  replaced 
action  by  rhetoric  and  at  once  perverted  and 
lowered  the  standard  of  the  Greek  drama, 
which  he  imitated.  Therefore,  as  a  guide 
upon  whose  works  others  should  plan  theirs, 
he  is  pernicious  and  pseudo-classic.  Not  per- 
ceiving this  fact,  his  plays  were  translated 
and  his  rules  faithfully  followed  by  learned 
men,  such  as  Fulke  Greville,  Lord  Brooke, 
George  Gascoigne  and  Samuel  Daniel,  who 
endeavored  to  give  a  tendency  to  the  Eng- 


44  The  English  Drama. 

lish  drama  at  once  false  and  foreign.  These 
efforts  had  no  effect  upon  its  development, 
however,  and  are  only  interesting  as  showing 
the  continuous  revolt  against  the  Romantic 
or  native  English  drama.  The  Latin  trage- 
dies, such  as  George  Buchanan's  "  Jeptha  " 
and  John  Rightwise's  "  Dido,"  written  for 
and  performed  in  the  Universities,  were 
unqualified  failures.  These  men,  who  under- 
took to  set  a  pattern  of  what  they  thought 
was  a  purer  style,  did  not  see  the  mistake 
they  were  making,  nor,  fortunately,  were  they 
able  to  cope  with  the  innate  good  taste  of  the 
people.  The  Romantic  School  of  dramatists, 
who  represented  the  popular  taste  and 
demands,  felt  that  it  was  action,  not  didactic 
rhetoric  and  eloquence,  that  composed  the 
essence  of  the  drama.  That  there  must  be 
life,  vigor,  variety,  conflicts  of  persons,  pas- 
sions and  events,  and  a  final  climax  or  catas- 
trophe, all  depicted,  not  merely  described. 

"  Gorboduc,"  the  first  tragedy  written  in 
English,  though  patterned  after  Seneca,  is 
founded  on  a  popular  fable,  showing  thereby 
the  irresistible  native  spirit.  It  is  praised 
very  highly  by  Sidney  in  his  "  Defence  of 
Poesy."  "  It  is  full,"  he  says,  "of  stately 
speeches  and  well-sounding  phrases,  climbing 


The  English  Drama.  45 

to  the  height  of  Seneca  his  style."  The 
only  grave  fault  he  finds  is  non-observance  of 
the  unity  of  time.  So  were  the  greatest  liter- 
ary men  of  the  period  completely  misled  by 
false  classical  ideas.  "  Gorboduc  "  is  com- 
posed of  dissertations  and  monologues.  All 
the  action  occurs  behind  the  scenes,  and  is 
merely  reported  by  messengers  and  com- 
mented upon  on  the  stage  itself.  The  lan- 
guage is  not  natural  and  spontaneous.  Each 
person  delivers  a  set  oration  and  then  steps 
aside  for  the  next  to  do  likewise.  The 
speeches  of  the  individual  characters  average 
some  fifty  lines.  Each  act  is  concluded  with 
a  chorus  spoken  by  "four  ancient  and  sage 
men  of  Britain,"  which  contains  some  of  the 
best  poetry  of  the  play  Though  any  amount 
of  blood  is  shed,  not  a  drop  flows  on  the 
sta'ge.  Dumb  shows  were  given  before  each 
act  to  reveal  in  metaphorical  pantomime  the 
meaning  of  what  followed.  These  pageants 
served  the  double  purpose  of  elucidating  the 
play  and  relieving  the  dull  solemnity  of  the 
performance.  The  play  is  the  story  of  Gor- 
boduc, King  of  Britain,  dividing  his  kingdom 
during  his  lifetime  between  his  sons  Ferrex 
and  Porrux.  The  inevitable  results  follow  ; 
envy,  ingratitude,  hatred,  murder,   civil  con- 


46  The  English  Drama. 

flict  ;  Gorboduc,  his  queen  and  both  sons,  all 
fall  victims  to  his  mistaken  policy,  and  are 
slain.  The  chief  defect  in  the  story  of  the 
play  is  prolonging  it  after  the  death  of  all  the 
principal  personages,  when  a  new  set  of 
motives  of  necessity  arise.  It  is  the  first  play 
written  in  blank  verse. 

Norton,  a  learned  lawyer,  and  Sackville,  a 
learned  courtier,  were  the  authors  of  "  Gor- 
boduc."  The  first  mentioned,  a  strict  reformer 
of  the  bitterest  sect,  was  by  four  years  his 
collaborator's  senior.  Sackville,  in  early  life 
wild  and  extravagant,  afterwards  reformed. 
He  had  a  great  part  in  the  compilation  of  the 
poems  known  as  "  The  Mirror  for  Magis- 
trates," which  connect  the  works  of  Lydgate 
and  Spencer.  "  Gorboduc,"  the  work  of 
these  two  men,  was  first  performed  at  White- 
hall, before  the  Queen,  in  1561. 

The  second  tragedy  of  the  English  stage  is 
"The  Misfortunes  of  Arthur/'  Thomas 
Hughes  was  the  author.  Francis  Bacon, 
Christopher  Yelveston  and  John  Lancaster, 
gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inne,  devised  the 
Dumb-shows.  Like  "  Gorboduc,"  it  was 
written  by  learned  men.  The  play  is  a  de- 
cided improvement  upon  its  predecessor 
in    dramatic    painting,    language   and     spon- 


The  English  Drama.  47 

taneity.  The  story  is,  however,  indescrib- 
ably loathsome.  In  this  tragedy  a  character 
is  imported  from  Seneca  destined  to  great 
popularity  and  long  life  through  the  works 
of  Brooke,  Kyd,  Jonson,  Shakespeare,  etc., 
viz.  :    The  Ghost. 

The  pseudo-classic  school  was  not  without 
its  beneficial  influence  on  the  English  drama. 
It  brought  about  a  respect  for  studied 
thought  as  well  as  the  mere  dramatizations 
of  a  story,  and  compelled  play-wrights  to  con- 
sider whether  mature  reflection  and  dramatic 
action  might  not  be  harmonized.  Finally  it 
introduced  blank  verse,  imperfect  to  be  sure, 
but  still  blank  verse.  "  Gorboduc "  was 
printed  at  least  twenty  years  before  the  pro- 
duction of  Marlowe's  "  Tamburlaine." 

Worthy  of  special  mention  is  Richard 
Edward's  "  Damon  and  Pithias,"  played  pos- 
sibly in  1564-5,  and  printed  in  1571,  and  Robert 
Wilmot's  "  Tancred  and  Gismunda  "  (origin- 
ally acted  in  1568,  published  in  1592).  The 
former  is  Edwards'  only  extant  play,  and  was 
a  most  popular  one.  This  success  was  partly 
owing  to  the  commendation  of  the  Queen, 
partly  to  the  novelty  of  bringing  stories  from 
profane  history  upon  the  stage.  There  is  no 
division  into  acts  in  the  play,  but  the  dialogue, 


48  The  English  Drama. 

covering  a  period  of  two  months,  continues 
to  the  end.  The  story  is,  with  slight  varia- 
tions, the  familiar  one.  The  play  teems  with 
proverbs.  "  Tancred  and  Gismunda  "  was  the 
production  of  five  gentlemen,  but  was  after- 
wards so  much  altered  by  one  of  them,  Robert 
Wilmot,  that  he  is  usually  named  as  the  author. 
King  Tancred,  actuated  by  excessive  paternal 
love,  refuses  his  daughter  Gismunda  permis- 
sion to  marry  a  second  time.  She  becomes  a 
victim  of  her  passion.  Tancred  discovers  her 
lover,  causes  him  to  be  slain,  and  his  heart  sent 
in  a  golden  goblet  to  Gismunda.  She  takes 
poison,  and  dying  begs  to  be  buried  with  her 
lover.  Tancred,  overcome  with  remorse  and 
sorrow,  slays  himself.  There  is  lacking  action 
and  skill  in  construction  in  the  piece,  but  the 
thought  and  language  is  often  beautiful,  as 
when  Tancred  addresses  the  dead  body  of  his 
daughter  : 

"  Oh,  fair  in  life  !    thrice  fairer  in  thy  death  ! 
Dear  to  thy  father  in  thy  life  thou  wert ; 
But  in  thy  death,  dearest  unto  his  heart ; 
I  kiss  thy  paled  cheeks,  and  close  thine  eyes. 
This  duty  once  I  promised  to  myself 
Thou    shouldst    perform    to    me ;    but,    ah !    false 

hope, 
Now  ruthful,  wretched  king,  what  resteth  thee  ? 


The  English  Drama.  49 

From  the  "  Minutes  of  the  Revels,"  between 
1568  and  1580,  Mr.  Collier  has  obtained  a  list  of 
fifty-two  plays.  None  of  these  remain.  Even 
their  authors  are  unknown.  Written  at  a 
time  when  only  wealthy  scholars  could  have 
their  plays  published,  and  who  did  not 
always  do  so,  and  when  also  a  successful 
piece  was  carefully  kept  from  the  printer, 
that  it  might  be  played  only  by  the  rightful 
owners,  they  were  eventually  forgotten  and 
perished.  A  brilliant  success,  like  "  Gorbo- 
duc,"  was  pirated  and  thus  preserved.  A  few 
were  in  this  manner  rescued.  Of  those  that 
perished  we  can  safely  say  that  they  were 
intended  merely  for  popular  amusement,  and 
that  it  was  the  people  who  supported  them. 

The  play-wright  began  to  derive  material 
from  the  love  stories  of  history  and  mythol- 
ogy, and' a  style  of  play  grew  up  full  of  absur- 
dities and  extravagances,  careless  of  rules, 
but  having  a  variety  and  vigor  that  took 
strong  hold  on  popular  favor.  In  spite  of 
scholarly  and  pedantic  hostility  this  "  peo- 
ple's drama "  was  encouraged  by  court  as 
well  as  populace,  and  continued  to  thrive  and 
grow  strong.  In  direct  opposition  to  the 
pseudo-classic  type,  which  it  was  to  vanquish, 
yet  it  was  to  be  greatly  improved  and  modi- 


5<d  The  English  Drama. 

fied  by  that  type.  Learned  dramatists  were 
won  to  the  side  of  the  Romantic  drama  and 
became  its  earnest  supporters.  Edwards  and 
Wilmot  were  both  scholars.  It  is  to  this  period 
that  "Damon  and  Pithias,"  "  Tancred  and 
Gismunda,"  the  earliest  "  Romeo  and  Juliet," 
and  Whetstone's  "  Promos  and  Cassandra," 
belong.  But  we  cannot  judge  of  the  merit 
and  value  of  the  drama  of  that  time  by  the 
few  plays  remaining  to  us  ;  it  is  rather  by  the 
contemporary  and  often  hostile  criticism,  of 
which  there  is  considerable,  that  it  is  valuable. 
Sidney  complained  of  the  lack  of  art.  North- 
brooke  of  the  immorality  connected  with  the 
stage.  Stephen  Gosson,  a  former  dramatist 
and  actor,  attacked  both  professions  fiercely. 
This  brought  out  many  replies.  Thomas 
Lodge,  in  "  Plays  Confuted  in  Five  Actions," 
shows  that  the  play-wrights  dtew  their  plots 
from  Italian  translations,  mythology,  classical 
history,  Latin  plays,  and  the  romances  of  the 
middle  ages.  Whetstone  attacked  the  roman- 
tic plays  because  of  their  impossibilities.  He 
says,  "  Then  in  three  hours  runs  he  through 
the  world  ;  marries,  gets  children ;  makes 
children  men,  men  to  conquer  kingdoms, 
murder  monsters,  and  bringeth  gods  from 
heaven,  and  fetcheth  devils  from  hell."     Sid- 


The  English  Drama.  51 

ney  complains,  "For  where  the  stage  should 
always  represent  but  one  place,  and  the 
uttermost  time  presupposed  in  it  should  be, 
both  by  Aristotle's  precept  and  common  rea- 
son, but  one  day,  there  is  both  many  days 
and  many  places  inartificially  imagined.  .  .  . 
Many  things  may  be  told  which  can  not  be 
shown." 

These  critics  desired  to  separate  distinctly 
Tragedy  and  Comedy  ;  to  permit  no  inter- 
mingling ;  to  preserve  the  classical  unities  of 
time,  place  and  action  ;  to  describe  rather 
than  depict  action.  Upheld  by  the  French 
Academy,  these  principles  produced  the  arti- 
ficial and  unnatural  drama  of  Racine,  Cor- 
neille,  etc.,  and  it  was  not  until  the  daring 
master-genius  of  Victor  Hugo  had  produced 
his  "  Hernani,"  that  they  were  overthrown 
and  their  bad  effect  recognized  in  that 
country.  In  England  our  Romantic  drama 
refused  to  obey  a  single  one  of  these  rules. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  shape  of  a  story 
that  it  would  not  utilize  ;  hence  it  has  been 
defined  as  "a  represented  story." 

In  1512-13  Henry  VIII.  introduced  into 
England  a  species  of  the  drama  long  popular 
on  the  continent,  but  until  then  unseen  in 
Britain,  the  Masque.     In    order  to   treat   of 


52  The  English  Drama. 

this  type  in  full  we  shall  have  to  deviate  for 
a  short  time  from  the  course  of  our  subject 
proper,  and  even  to  pass  into  the  regions  of 
later  work,  disregarding  chronology. 

The  Masque  is  a  dramatic  species  midway] 
between  a  pageant  and  a  play  ;  a  spectacle, 
consisting  of  a  combination   of   dancing  and 
music   with    poetry   and   declamation,  whose  j 
chief   characteristic   is   magnificence   of   pro- 
duction.    It  makes  but  little  demand  for  act-> 
ing,  yet  a  great  deal  for  splendor  and  beauty. 
The  mechanic  and  author  share  the  honors. 
The    actors  are   insignificant.      Complicated 
machines,  elaborate  scenic  effects,  music  and 
dancing  are  the  necessities. 

With  the  very  rich  the  Masque  became  a 
favorite  amusement.  It  was  a  gorgeous 
parade  of  their  wealth  and  power  ;  a  display 
to  produce  which  a  whole  army  of  mechanics 
and  performers  were  necessary.  At  one 
Masque  given  in  Italy  one  hundred  and  sixty 
actors  took  part.  The  principal  actors  repre- 
sented Olympian  Deities  and  personifica- 
tions of  #the  Virtues.  The  Masques  given 
before  Lucrezia  Borgia  (1502)  and  Leonora  of 
Aragon  (1474)  were  of  a  consecutive  nature  ; 
that  is,  consisted  of  a  series  of  shows  rather 
than  one.     In   15 13,  however,  at   Urbino,  this 


The  English  Drama.  53 

processional  idea  was  made  prominent  and 
cars  were  introduced.  A  Carnival  at  Venice 
is  simply  a  phase  of  the  Masque.  A  Veiled 
Prophet's  Procession,  or  Mardi  Gras,  is  what 
is  left  to  us  of  this  type.  Essentially  an 
Italian  production,  it  lost  much  in  transplant- 
ing to  English  soil.  The  artistic  nature  of 
the  people  was  not  highly  cultured.  They 
were  defective  in  the  fine  arts,  such  as  music, 
architecture  and  painting.  These  hardy, 
storm-beaten,  warlike  islanders  had  not  the 
leisure  nor  the  surroundings  to  call  forth  the 
obscure  want  of  these  things,  Yet  the  Eng- 
lish were  not  insensible  to  their  beauty,  only 
incapable  of  producing  them  in  their  highest 
form.  Therefore  foreign  artists  were  im- 
ported, necessarily  of  a  second  rank,  else 
they  would  have  remained  at  home.  Nor 
was  Elizabeth,  in  whose  reign  they  became 
popular,  willing  to  expend  lavishly  her  wealth 
in  the  manner  requisite  for  a  Masque  as  pro- 
duced in  Italy  ;  although  she  was  greatly 
pleased  when  her  nobles  did  so  in  her  honor, 
as  did  Leicester  at  Kenilworth.  It  was  not 
until  the  Stuarts  reigned  that  this  form  of 
entertainment  reached  its  highest  develop- 
ment in  England.  James  and  Charles  were 
extremely  fond  of  the   Masque,  and  during 


54  The  English  Drama. 

their  rule  their  court  rivaled  that  of  the 
Italians  in  the  magnificence  of  this  dramatic 
type,  and  far  excelled  it  in  poetical  worth. 
To  English  dramatists  alone  belongs  the 
honor  of  elevating  the  Masque  to  the  plane 
of  literature.  From  the  pens  of  Jonson,  Beau- 
mont, Fletcher,  and  Milton,  came  Masques 
of  literary  merit  and  powers  to  please  in 
reading  as  well  as  representation.  Jonson 
and  Inigo  Jones,  the  architect,  fixed  the  type 
for  English  writers  to  follow.  Some  of  these 
Masques  cost  ^3,000  to  produce.  On  "  The 
Triumph  of  Peace,"  designed  by  Shirley  and 
Inigo  Jones,  and  presented  in  1634  at  White- 
hall, ^2,000  was  expended.  Often  royal  and 
noble  personages  took  part  in  these  perform- 
ances, as  in  some  of  Jonson's  pieces  we  find 
that  the  Queen  and  her  ladies  assumed  the 
characters.  An  Anti-Masque  was  often  in- 
troduced to  lighten  the  entertainment  with 
fun.  Deprived  of  their  scenic  and  other  ac- 
companiments, the  Masques  call  for  great 
flights  of  the  imagination.  Nevertheless,  so 
much  learning  and  genius  was  expended 
upon  them,  so  many  beauties  are  to  be  found 
in  them,  that  they  can  still  be  read  with 
pleasure.  Jonson  is  at  his  best  in  his 
Masques. 


The  English  Drama.  55 

Like  every  other  prominent  feature  of  the 
national  life,  the  Masque  was  in  time  incor- 
porated in  the  drama.  We  find  it  in  Shake- 
speare's "  Tempest,"  and  in  Fletcher's  "  Maid's 
Tragedy."  A  Mask  of  Madmen  is  introduced 
by  Webster  in  his  tragedy,  "  The  Duchess." 
To  be  given  on  the  stage  the  Masque  had  to 
be  much  simplified  and  quickly  disposed  of. 
Often  it  was  inappropriately  utilized,  proba- 
bly because  of  its  powerful  effect  on  the 
people's  imagination.  The  last  and  most 
brilliant  literary  achievement  in  this  dramatic 
field  was  Milton's  "  Comus."  It  is  in  com- 
position and  intrinsic  merit  far  superior  to 
everything  else  of  its  kind,  having  nothing  in 
common  with  those  entertainments  whose 
chief  interest  centered  in  glittering  and 
magnificent  surroundings.  But  the  Masque 
has  disappeared,  or  rather  degenerated,  into 
pantomimic  processions.  Designed  for  a 
lower  order  of  intellect,  as  the  race  progressed, 
it  resigned  all  literary  and  dramatic  claims, 
and  became  simply  a  vulgar  show  or  parade. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  Hybrid  Plays, 
touched  upon  the  Interlude,  and  deviated 
somewhat  to  view  the  Masques,  now  we  must 
return  to  Comedy  and  Tragedy.  The  earliest 
Tragedies    were  founded    on    the    legendary 


56  The  English  Drama. 


history  of  England,  as  "Gorboduc,"  "The 
Misfortunes  of  Arthur,"  "  Locrine,"  and 
"  King  Lear."  The  first  two  we  have  already 
mentioned.  The  stories  of  all  are  well 
known.  From  dealing  with  legendary  char- 
acters it  was  but  a  step  to  treating  historical 
ones.  And  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in 
English  literature  alone  did  this  treatment 
attain  something  approaching  perfection.  In 
other  languages  the  attempts  made  to  drama- 
tize their  national  history  do  not  deserve 
the  name  of  Chronicle  Plays.  A  Chronicle 
Play  should  treat  in  a  single  action  of  the 
leading  events  of  a  reign,  not  be  a  selected 
and  dramatized  national  episode.  Our  Chron- 
icle Plays,  having  for  their  object  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  national  annals,  cover  nearly 
the  whole  field  of  English  history  K 

Bale'9  "  King  John,"  which  we  have  already 
mentioned,  heads  the  list  of  Historical  or 
Chronicle  Plays.  "  The  Troublesome  Reign 
of  King  John,"  "  The  True  Tragedy  of 
Richard  III.,"  "Richard  Tertius,"  "The 
Famous  Victories  of  Henry  V.,"  "  The  Con- 
tention of  the  Two  Famous  Houses  of  York," 
all  belong  to  this  early  and  defective  period. 
Though  often  interesting  and  vigorous,  they 
are  crude  and  rough.     "  Richard   Tertius  "  is 


The  English  Drama.  57 


a  Latin  Chronicle  Play,  by  Dr.  Legge.  "  Ed- 
ward III."  is  of  a  higher  order  than  any  of 
the  preceding,  and  has  been  ascribed  to 
Shakespeare,  but  without  sufficient  authority 
to  be  accepted  as  his.  Marlowe's  "  Edward 
II."  was  the  first  really  excellent  Chronicle. 
Not  printed  until  1598,  it  was,  however, 
probably  written  in  1590.  Then  follow 
Peele's  "  Edward  I.,"  in  1593.  Thomas  Hey- 
wood's  two  parts  of  "  Edward  IV."  (in  which 
the  story  of  Jane  Shore  forms  a  principal 
element).  "  If  You  Know  Not  Me,  You 
Know  Nobody  "  (a  play  upon  the  reign  of 
Mary,  and  the  accession  of  Elizabeth).  Row- 
ley's "When  You  See  Me,  You  Know  Me" 
(the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.). 

The  Chronicle  plays  are  very  unequal  in 
merit.  In  Shakespeare  and  Marlowe  they 
reach  their  highest  perfection,  and  in  Rowley 
the  lowest.  Together  with  Shakespeare's  and 
subsequent  Chronicles  there  is  an  almost  con- 
tinuous series  of  studies  in  English  history 
from  1 1 19  to  1588,  from  the  accession  of  John 
to  the  defeat  of  the  Armada — nearly  four  cen- 
turies. These  plays  served  a  noble  purpose 
in  educating  and  enlightening  the  people  con- 
cerning their  country's  history.  In  "  The 
Apology  for  Actors,"  Heywood   pointed  out 


58  The  English  Drama. 

how  useful  these  plays  were  in  instructing 
the  ignorant,  and  reminding  the  learned  of 
the  great  facts  of  history  and  morals. 

Closely  allied  to  the  Historical  or  Chronicle 
plays  are  those  that  are  biographical,  such  as 
have  for  their  subjects  popular  heroes,  whether 
real  or  mythical.  The  earliest  to  be  acted 
was  "  Sir  Thomas  More."  Then  followed 
"  The  Life  and  Death  of  Thomas,  Lord  Crom- 
well," "  Sir  John  Oldcastle,"  "  Sir  Thomas 
Wyatt,"  "  Perkin  Warbeck,"  "  The  Fair  Maid 
of  the  West,"  "  Capt.  Thomas  Stukeley," 
"  Pinner  of  Wakefield,"  etc.  Some  of  these 
are  by  unknown  authors,  two  have  been 
wrongly  attributed  to  Shakespeare.  While 
of  inferior  workmanship,  yet  all  breathing 
the  independent,  adventure-loving  English 
spirit,  they  were  based  some  on  real  some  on 
mythical  personages,  and  dealt  partly  in  facts 
and  largely  in  legends.  Three  plays  of  this 
class  celebrated  that  popular  highwayman, 
Robin  Hood.  In  all  is  the  attempt  made  to 
depict  the  English  gentleman,  bold,  honor- 
able and  adventurous.  It  is  the  nation's 
spirit  working  to  the  surface. 

From  the  biographical  to  the  domestic- 
drama  it  was  but  a  step.  From  treating  of 
the  principal  events  in   the   lives  of  popular 


The  English  Drama.  59 

heroes,  to  treating  stirring  events  in  contem- 
poraneous society  was  the  natural  develop- 
ment of  play-writing.  That  the  contempo- 
rary events  chosen  should  have  been  those  of 
a  morbid  and  fascinating  interest,  as  some 
famous  crime,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  but 
expected.  Horrible  stories  of  passion  and 
murder,  found  in  Holimshed's  and  Stow's 
Chronicles,  were  used  as  subjects  for  gloomy, 
realistic  plays,  in  which  the  minutest  details 
were  adhered  to  and  all  ornament  or  inven- 
tion excluded.  These  plays  are  bold  studies 
of  real  life,  where  all  romance  and  glamour 
is  dispensed  with,  and  where  licentiousness, 
brutality,  murder  and  avarice  are  pictured  as 
they  are.  Yet  this  type  seems  to  have  been 
very  popular,  despite  its  brutal  nature. 

The  five  tragedies  representative  of  this 
class  given  by  Symonds  are  :  "Warning  for 
Fair  Women  "  (1599),  "  A  Yorkshire  Tragedy  " 
(1608),  "Arden  of  Feversham  "  (1592), 
"Woman  Killed  with  Kindness  "  (1603),  and 
the  "Witch  of  Edmonton  "  (1623).  These 
extend  into  a  later  period  than  I  wish  to 
treat  of  here,  which  fact  shows  how  difficult 
it  is  in  literature  as  in  history  to  mark  off 
divisions  and  how  inevitably  these  divisions 
will  overlap  one  another. 


60  The  English  Drama. 

"  Arden  of  Feversham  "  was  based  on  "The 
lamentable  and  true  tragedy  of  Master  Ar- 
den of  Feversham,  in  Kent,  who  was  most 
wickedly  murdered  by  the  means  of  his  dis- 
loyal and  wanton  wife,  who,  for  the  love  she 
bore  to  one  Mosbie,  hired  two  desperate  ruf- 
fians, Black  Will  and  Shagbag,  to  kill  him." 
This  play,  and  "  The  Yorkshire  Tragedy," 
have  been  assigned  to  Shakespeare,  but  while 
authorities  differ,  it  is  safe  to  say  the  weight 
of  evidence  is  against  this  theory  of  their 
authorship. 

There  is  a  purer  and  higher  tone  in  "  A 
Woman  Killed  with  Kindness,"  than  is  usually 
found  in  the  domestic  type.  Here  is  a  real- 
ism that  elevates,  a  vileness  that  displays 
purity,  and  a  virtuous  character  revealed  by 
others'  wickedness.  The  picturing  of  charac- 
ter and  passion  is  the  great  object  in  this  as 
in  other  plays  of  its  kind.  Particularly  is 
this  so  in  the  "  Witch  of  Edmonton,"  the  title 
role  of  which  has  no  superior  of  its  type  in 
English  literature.  Little  claim  is  made  by 
these  plays  to  artistic  value,  although  there  is 
often  a  vein  of  excellent  poetry. 

We  have  now  reached  that  point  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  drama,  where  the  expression  of  a 
type  or  species   of   play  was   found   in  some 


The  English  Drama.  61 

particular  writer.  Where  the  spirit  of  the 
time  is  best  studied  and  more  clearly  revealed 
in  the  works  of  some  one  genius,  than  it  would 
be  in  all  the  contemporaneous  literature.  We 
have  reached  the  period  of  activity  of  Shake- 
speare's immediate  predecessors  :  Kyd,  Lyly, 
Greene,  Peele,  Nash,  Lodge  and  Marlowe. 

Thomas  Kyd,  the  circumstances  of  whose 
life  and  death  are  unknown,  was  the  founder 
of  the  "  Tragedy  of  Blood."  The  characters  of 
this  species  are  the  noble  and  fearless  lover, 
the  beautiful  and  oppressed  heroine,  the  gener- 
ous old  man,  the  consummate  villain,  the  vil- 
lain's tools,  paid  assassins  and  a  ghost.  The 
peculiarites  are  intolerable  wrongs,  unmerited 
sufferings,  secret  malice.  There  are  portraits 
of  wildest  insanity,  extravagant  love-making, 
fierce  encounters.  Kings,  clowns,  assassins, 
princes,  ladies,  fill  the  scene.  Blood  flows 
freely,  and  death  reigns  supreme.  In  the 
"  Spanish  Tragedy,"  that  much  ridiculed  play, 
there  are  five  murders,  two  suicides,  two  judi- 
cial executions,  and  one  death  in  a  duel.  The 
principal  character,  Hieronymo,  bites  out  his 
tongue,  throws  it  down,  kills  his  foe  and  then 
himself.  Such  is  an  example  of  the  frightful 
scenes  our  ancestors  called  Tragedy.  The 
people  of  that  day  were  pleased  with  blood 


62  The  English  Drama. 

and  had  nerves  of  iron.  Their  sympathies 
were  only  reached  by  uppiling  horrible  events. 
Every  imaginable  means  was  resorted  to  to 
stir  their  sluggish  blood  and  thrill  them. 
These  tragedies  have  aptly  been  compared 
to  a  fierce  tempest  in  which  everything  is 
destroyed,  and  peace  is  only  reached  by  anni- 
hilation. 

John  Lyly,  M.  A.,  member  of  Magdalene 
College,  who  had  won  fame  by  his  "  Euphues  " 
in  1579,  attached  himself  to  the  Court  in  1580, 
and  became  a  dramatist.  He  always  desired 
the  office  of  Master  of  the  Revels,  but  never 
obtained  it.  For  this  purpose  he  turned  his 
attention  to  writing  plays  which  have  been 
styled  Court  Comedies.  These  plays  formed 
a  new  species  of  drama,  a  species  which  was  to 
affect  all  succeeding  dramatic  literature.  This 
type  of  comedy,  which  Lyly  invented,  and 
which  gives  him  an  'mportant  place  as  a 
dramatist,  was  extremely  popular  for  some 
twenty  years.  The  distinguishing  marks 
of  this  "  Court  "  or  "  Euphuistic  "  Comedy 
are  extravagant  language,  studied  manner- 
isms, abundant  antitheses,  fanciful  conceits, 
superficial  allegory  and  repartee.  Added 
to  these  Lyly  first  introduced  witty  prose 
dialogue  and  the  custom  of  disguising  female 


Tiie  English  Drama.  63 


character  in  male  attire  in  the  drama.  So 
that  while  there  is  much  to  condemn  and 
lament,  yet  there  is  something  to  praise  in 
Lyly.  Nor  must  Lyly  be  blamed  severely 
for  adopting  and  nourishing  this  comedy  of 
affectation  for  he  simply  expressed  a  phase  of 
English  literary  life  that  existed  in  his  time. 
It  was  a  piece  of  road  over  which  the  litera- 
ture had  naturally  to  pass.  To  the  people  of 
that  period,  ignorant  of  science,  allegory  and 
symbolism  deeply  appealed.  The  scholars  in 
their  study  of  the  ancients  had  not  yet  learned 
to  distinguish  between  the  good  and  the  bad 
authors,  but  accepted  them  all.  Hence  in  the 
writings  of  the  day,  as  in  their  conversation, 
there  is  found  a  sacrificing  of  purity,  form 
and  truth,  to  a  straining  after  effect,  a  ten- 
dency to  allegory,  and  an  abuse  of  classical 
learning.  Lyly  was  without  doubt  original 
in  his  works.  Nothing  like  his  comedies  had 
ever  before  been  seen  in  England.  They  are 
wanting  in  plot,  action  and  intrigue,  are 
merely  a  succession  of  brilliant  scenes,  where 
the  language  is  sparkling  and  the  allegory 
interesting,.  Of  his  eight  comedies  six  were 
given  before  Elizabeth,  and  all  are  full  of 
extravagant  and  judicious  praise  of  the 
Queen.     In  "  Endimion  "  Elizabeth  is  thinly 


64  The  English  Drama. 

disguised  as  "  Cynthia,"  in  "  Sapho  and  Phao  " 
by  "  Sapho  "  and  so  on.  Platonic  love,  roman- 
tic devotion,  the  nobleness  of  a  ruler  prefer- 
ring the  toils  of  sovereignty  to  the  pleasures 
of  love,  England's  enemies,  defeated  and  dis- 
appointed, actuate  and  permeate  all  his 
works.  The  term  "  Euphuism,"  which  has 
been  applied  to  this  style  of  writing,  is  taken 
from  the  name  of  Lyly's  novel,  "  Euphues,"  in 
which  he  first  popularized  and  propagated 
this  kind  of  prose  literature.  His  lyrics,  with 
which  his  plays  are  adorned,  should  be  men- 
tioned for  their  rare  beauty.  Lyly's  comedies, 
though  little  noted  to-day,  mark  an  epoch 
and  distinguish  him  as  a  discoverer. 

Greene,  Peele,  Nash  and  Lodge  form  a 
quartette  of  poets  of  peculiar  interest  from 
their  associations  in  life,  work  and  death. 
They  were  all  well  born  and  well  educated  ; 
all  came  from  the  universities  and  with  the, 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  Despite  their  birth 
and  attainments  they  were  excluded  from 
respectable  society  because  of  their  loose  lives 
and  profanity.  Three  of  these  men  after 
leading  wretched,  licentious  lives  died  mis- 
erably, barely  reckoning  forty  years  each. 
Lodge  alone  extricated  himself  from  this  wild 
life,  became  respectable,  and  reached  a  good 


The  English  Drain  a.  65 

old  age,  dying,  as  we  are  told,  "  decently   of 
the  plague,"  in  1625. 

The  best  known  and  most  erratic  genius  of 
this  quartette,  Robert  Greene,  was  a  man  o 
brilliant  powers,  and  low  passions,  doomed  to 
the  bitter  disappointment  of  being  far  excelled 
in  his  profession,  and  to  the  just  punishment 
of  a  miserable  end  to  a  miserable  life.  When 
Greene  first  engaged  in  play-writing,  rimed 
dramas  were  very  popular,  and  in  this  style  of 
writing  he  soon  took  a  first  place.  He  bitterly 
opposed  the  introduction  of  blank  verse,  which 
Marlowe  made  in  "  Tamburlaine,"  and  which 
revolutionized  the  stage.  He  quarrelled 
with  both  Marlowe  and  Nash  on  this  subject, 
but  being  unable  to  oppose  the  popular 
demands,  was  compelled  to  dispense  with  the 
old  method  and  adopt  the  new.  In  doing 
this,  he  lost  his  pre-eminence,  and  was  forced 
into  the  subordinate  position  of  an  imitator. 
But  no  sooner  had  Greene  yielded  to  Mar- 
lowe's ascendancy,  than  lie  was  called  upon  to 
submit  to  a  still  greater  conqueror,  Shakes- 
peare. He  could  not  retreat  twice  grace- 
fully, especially  since  the  second  genius  was 
neither  a  learned   nor  a  travelled  gentleman. 

Greene  could  not  forgive  the  dramatist  who 
by   industry  and  sobriety  was  winning   fame 


66  The  English  Drama. 

and  wealth,  while  he  was  ending  an  ill-spent 
life  in  wretched  poverty.  In  his  time  he  had 
been  a  popular  author,  but  working  not  for 
posterity  but  for  ephemeral  fame  and  money, 
he  received  only  that  for  which  he  had  bar- 
gained. On  his  death-bed  he  bitterly  and 
inexcusably  attacked  the  stage,  the  actors, 
and  Shakespeare.  Since  the  first  had  given 
him  his  living,  the  second  had  once  reckoned 
him  in  their  ranks,  and  the  third  only  sur- 
passed him  by  reason  of  superior  excellence 
he  should  not  have  complained.  It  was  the 
old  story  of  blaming  art  and  artists  for  the 
results  of  individual  sin.  Greene's  novels 
form  the  better  part  of  his  works.  His  plays 
lack  unity  of  plot  and  character  portraitures. 
There  is  shown  an  excellent  story-telling  fac- 
ulty and  the  power  to  employ  at  once  a  vari- 
ety of  motives  and  a  simplicity  of  detail. 
The  main  defects  are  an  inappropriate  use  of 
Latin  mythology  and  a  failure  to  appreciate 
the  dignity  of  the  drama.  None  of  Greene's 
earlier  works  are  extant.  Of  his  later  plays 
the  most  celebrated  are  "  Looking-Glass  for 
London"  (a  joint  work  with  Lodge),  "Al- 
phonso,  Prince  of  Aragon  "  and  "  James  The 
Fourth  of  Scotland."  The  last  is  probably 
his  best. 


The  English  Drama.  67 


George  Peele  was  not  a  prolific  writer,  nor 
did  he  have  a  pronounced  effect  on  the  litera- 
ture of  his  time.  While  he  was  not  an  origi- 
nal thinker,  yet  he  took  high  rank  as  a  poet. 
His  descriptions  are  graceful,  his  verse  is 
sweet,  and  his  feeling  is  natural  and  tender. 
He  might  have  been  a  greater  man  had  not 
the  necessities  of  his  time  drawn  him  into  an 
extravagance  and  exaggeration  foreign  to 
him.  Even  as  it  is,  his  writing  shows  unusual 
dignity  and  repose.  His  best  works  are  : 
"  The  Arraignment  of  Paris  "  and  "  David 
and  Bethsaba."  The  former  is  a  classical 
Masque  and  the  latter  a  modern  Mystery 
Play.  "The  Old  Wives'  Tales"  is  claimed 
by  some  to  be  the  source  of  Milton's  "  Comus." 
His  other  dramatic  productions  do  not  call 
for  more  special  mention  than  to  say  that  they 
are  dull,  insipid  and  extravagant. 

Thomas  Nash  was  the  bitterest  satirist  of 
his  own,  if  not  of  any  age,  of  English  litera- 
ture. He  avoided  learned  displays  of  rheto- 
ric, drew  bold  caricatures,  stinging  epigrams 
and  invectives.  His  method  of  arguing  by 
abuse  and  ridicule  made  him  the  first  pam- 
phleteer, if  not  the  first  dramatist  of  that 
time.  "  Ingenious,  fluent,  facetious  Thomas 
Nash,"  says  Dekker,  "  from  what    abundant 


68  The  English  Drama. 

pen  flowed  honey  to  thy  friends  and  mortal 
aconite  to  thy  enemies."  Nash  is  supposed 
to  have  been  a  collaborator  in  Marlowe's 
"  Queen  Dido."  "  Will  Summer's  Testa- 
ment," is  his  best  known  play.  Nash  is  par- 
ticularly remembered  for  his  staunch  defense 
of  his  dead  friend  Greene's  reputation  against 
the  attacks  of  Gabriel  Harvey. 

Thomas  Lodge,  son  of  a  Lord  Mayor,  was 
successively  scholar,  actor,  poet,  adventurer 
and  physician.  In  comparison  to  his  other 
writings  his  plays  are  insignificant.  He 
collaborated  with  Greene  in  the  composi- 
tion of  "  Looking-Glass  of  London,"  and 
produced  the  stiff,  unnatural  tragedy  of  "  The 
Wounds  of  Civil  War."  Lodge's  claims  as  a 
poet  must  rest  upon  his  lyrics. 

Christopher  Marlowe  was  born  at  Canter- 
bury in  the  same  year  with  Shakespeare, 
1564.  Although  a  shoemaker's  son,  he  was 
given  the  advantages  of  a  Cambridge  educa- 
tion, probably  by  the  assistance  of  some 
wealthy  gentleman,  it  is  thought  Sir  Roger 
Marwood.  Of  Marlowe  it  can  be  truly  said 
that  he  was  born  a  poet.  His  first  extant 
work,  a  tragedy,  showing  the  master  of  a  new 
style  destined  to  revolutionize  play-writing 
and  become  the  most   perfect   and  attractive 


The  English  Drama.  69 

type  of  the  drama  yet  attained,  was  written 
at  the  age  of  twenty-two. 

"  Tamburlaine"  made  Marlowe  at  once 
famous  and  idolized.  The  rest  of  his  life, 
but  six  years,  he  spent  writing  plays,  a  pro- 
fession then  tolerably  remunerative.  During 
this  time  he  composed  the  second  part  of 
"  Tamburlaine,"  "  Dr.  Faustus,"  "  The  Massa- 
cre at  Paris,"  "  The  Jew  of  Malta,"  and 
"  Edward  II.,"  besides  some  exquisite  poems 
and  a  part  of  the  tragedy  of  "  Dido."  All  of 
these  plays  in  style,  vigor  and  imagination 
far  surpass  everything  that  had  preceded 
them. 

When  we  look  upon  the  crude  compositions 
of  the  men  who  wrote  before  "  Tambur- 
laine "  appeared,  and  then  upon  the  plays 
written  after  its  production,  we  will  not  dis- 
pute Marlowe's  claim  to  the  title  given  him 
by  his  admirers  of  Father  of  English 
Dramatic  Poetry. 

Before  Marlowe's  time,  although  all  kinds 
of  plays  had  been  attempted,  none  had  been 
brought  to  any  degree  of  perfection.  Indeed, 
for  this  very  lack  of  anything  approaching 
perfection,  the  stamp  of  which  genius  alone 
can  give,  the  stage  was  threatened  with  ruin. 
Abandoned  by   the   scholars  who  desired  an 


7<d  The  English  Drama. 

imitative  art,  debased  by  the  multitude  that 
wished  only  buffoonery  and  unnatural  melo- 
drama, derided  by  the  Puritans  and  moralists 
who  would  have  no  plays  at  all,  the  drama 
trembled  on  the  brink  of  ruin.  From  this 
impending  danger  it  was  Marlowe  that 
rescued  it,  and  thereby  rendered  an  inesti- 
mable service  to  English  literature.  Mar- 
lowe's plays  revived  and  purified  dramatic 
taste,  and  gave  fresh  impetus  to  dramatic 
production. 

Like  all  great  workers,  Marlowe  made  use 
of  the  best  of  all  materials  that  were  within 
his  reach.  He  selected  the  popular  Romantic 
drama,  perceiving  its  eminent  capabilities,  as 
the  type  best  suited  for  his  purpose.  He  re- 
jected the  much-admired  rime  and  adopted 
blank  verse,  for  he  beheld  in  it  the  highest 
form  of  poetry.  To  do  this  required  con- 
fident courage,  for  before  he  wrote,  blank 
verse,  though  used,  had  been  lifeless.  To 
inspire  this  verse  with  melody  and  meaning, 
and  to  unite  it  with  the  previously  hostile 
element,  the  Romantic  drama,  in  a  manner 
at  once  elevating  and  successful,  was  the 
effort  of  a  great  genius.  From  a  chaos  he 
brought  forth  a  drama.  Nor  was  he  ignorant 
of  the  service  he  rendered  the  stage.     In  his 


The  English  Drama.  71 

prologue  to  "  Tamburlaine  "  he  openly  pro- 
claimed his  purpose  to  win  the  populace. 

u  From  jigging  veins  of  rhyming  mother  wits, 
And  such  conceits  as  clownage  keeps  in  pay." 

This  he  succeeded  in  doing,  so  much  so  that 
the  English  drama  never  returned  to  rime 
except  in  a  phase  of  its  history  which  is  to 
be  regarded  merely  as  a  conscious  aberration 
from  its  national  course  and  from  which  it 
soon  returned. 

Marlowe  was  one  of  the  few  men  who 
undertook  to  reform  and  elevate  the  stage, 
and  who  succeeded.  His  services  are  two- 
fold, i.  e.y  the  introduction  of  a  living  blank 
verse  and  the  recognition  and  uniting  of 
proper  dramatic  materials.  Yet  we  must 
not  believe  or  expect  that  Marlowe's  poetry, 
except  in  isolated  passages,  is  comparable  to 
that  of  Shakespeare  or  Milton.  It  is  merely 
the  intervening  step  between  crudeness  and 
perfection.  Marlowe  is  the  pioneer  that 
clears  the  way  for  his  greater  successors. 
His  works  are  as  a  rule  monotonous  and 
grandiloquent,  though  his  poetry  is  at  times 
so  beautiful  "  that  it  seems  often  the  result  of 
momentary  inspiration  rather  than  the 
studied   style   of    a  deliberate    artist."      He 


72  The  English  Drama. 

seems  incapable  of  sustained  eloquence.  Yet 
in  a  different  line,  in  an  attempt  of  epical  and 
erotic  poetry,  as  in  "Hero  and  Leander,"  he 
surpasses  even  the  "  Venus  and  Adonis  "  of 
Shakespeare  in  excellence. 

We  have  not  yet  spoken  of  Marlowe's  life, 
nor  will  we  do  more  than  barely  touch  on  it. 
He  was  notorious  for  license  of  speech  and 
looseness  of  habits  ;  but,  says  Ward,  indeed 
truly, "  For  us,  who  can  not  penetrate  through 
the  foul  mists  which  obscured  the  career  of 
this  fiery  genius,  it  remains  only  to  lament 
the  loss  to  our  literature  of  the  fruits  of  a 
promise  without  parallel  among  our  earlier — 
indeed,  with  one  exception,  among  all  our 
Elizabethan  dramatists."  Considering  the 
facts  of  Marlowe's  dissipated  life  and  early 
death,  he  was  only  twenty-nine  when  mur- 
dered in  a  drunken  brawl,  that  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  he  produced  a  play  that  revo- 
lutionized the  stage,  the  eminent  value  of  the 
plays  written  during  his  short  career,  and  the 
great  services  he  rendered  the  English  drama, 
he  is  to  be  rated  as  one  of  the  most  original, 
creative  poets  of  the  world. 

Of  the  seven  dramatists,  upon  whose  lives 
and  works  we  have  touched,  Lyly  represents 
a  peculiar  and  original  style  which  has  affected 


The  English  Drama.  73 


in  some  degree  all  succeeding  literature. 
Kyd  stands  for  us  as  the  representative  of  the 
Tragedy  of  Blood.  Greene  marks  the  advent 
of  the  Romantic  play.  Nash  the  introduc- 
tion into  prose  of  controversy  and  satire. 
Peele  is  an  artistic  poet  not  influencing  but 
merely  complying  with  the  demands  of  his 
age.  Lodge  asserts  the  rare  beauties  of  the 
lyric.  It  was  left  for  Marlowe,  the  last  and 
greatest  of  the  seven,  to  select  and  combine 
the  beauties  of-  all  the  others  with  the  faults 
of  some  of  them,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
master  mind  that  was  to  follow  or  as  our 
Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  would  have  said, 
"  The  light  that  was  to  shine  over  many  lands." 


74  The  English  Drama. 


III. 


SHAKESPEARE. 


For  the  proper  understanding  and  appre- 
ciation of  a  great  man  I  believe  it  is  a  gener- 
ally accepted  theory  that  we  must  be  familiar 
with  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  the  circum- 
stances of  his  life,  the  people  by  whom  he  was 
surrounded,  the  materials  at  his  disposal. 
Then  in  the  study  of  a  great  dramatist  we 
must  consider  not  only  the  immediate  pro- 
ducts of  his  pen,  but  also  the  causes  which 
called  forth  and  the  conditions  which  modi- 
fied or  affected  in  any  vital  manner  his  com- 
positions. Foremost  amongst  this  seemingly 
extraneous  matter  is  the  theatre.  Without  a 
certain  knowledge  of  the  stage  and  audience 
for  which  Shakespeare  wrote  we  can  not  be 
said  to  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Shakes- 
peare himself.  Much  that  is  otherwise  inex- 
plicable or  at  least  apparently  superfluous 
reveals  at  once  its  significance  and  importance. 
Therefore  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  preface  my 
remarks  on  Shakespeare  by  a  cursory  exam- 
ination of  the  theatre. 


The  English  Drama.  75 

In  the  beginning,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
drama  had  no  permanent  home.  There  were 
no  buildings  set  aside  for  such  a  purpose. 
The  Mysteries  were  exhibited  in  churches  or 
on  movable  platforms  in  the  streets.  The 
Moralities  and  Interludes  were  given  in  cor- 
poration halls,  great  lord's  castles,  or  at  inn 
yards.  The  first  plays,  such  as  "  Gammer 
Gurton's  Needle,"  were  produced  in  the  uni- 
versities. 

As  priests  at  first,  and  later  tradesmen 
and  scholars,  presented  these  plays,  it  is 
readily  seen  that  if  there  was  at  this  period 
no  regular  theatre,  neither  was  there  any 
regular,  that  is,  professional  acting.  For  a 
long  time  the  ideas  of  acting  and  breadwin- 
ning  were  not  connected.  However,  they 
began  to  be  associated  with  the  advent  of  the 
interlude,  and  with  the  decline  of  the  clown 
and  the  minstrel.  Companies  of  actors 
sprang  into  existence.  Some  were  attached 
to  great  households,  others  roved  from  place 
to  place.  The  custom  of  a  powerful  baron 
maintaining  such  a  company,  which  called 
itself  his  servants,  became  very  popular. 
Even  the  Court  kept  its  actors,  and  Mary  is 
said  to  have  spent  large  sums  on  their  main- 
tenance. 


76  The  English  Drama. 

In  an  age  without  newspapers,  next  to 
the  pulpit,  the  stage,  however  rude,  was 
the  most  popular  and  influential  educator 
and  guide.  On  account  of  this  the  actors 
were  at  times  licensed,  at  times  restrict- 
ed, at  times  prohibited  in  their  perform- 
ances. But  despite  all  interferences  and  per- 
secutions, supported  by  the  people,  the  no- 
bility and  the  Court,  the  stage  thrived. 
When  prohibitory  proclamations  were  Fssued 
the  representations  did  not  cease,  they  simply 
became  clandestine. 

Recognizing  the  fact  that  the  English 
drama  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  English 
nature,  and  that  all  proclamations  and  laws 
issued  against  it  would  be  ineffectual  to 
suppress  it,  Elizabeth  and  her  counselors 
merely  attempted  to  regulate  the  stage  and 
restrain  it  from  excesses.  Companies  had 
to  be  licensed  or  attached  to  some  great 
nobleman.  Subjects  pertaining  to  reiigion 
or  politics  were  rigorously  prohibited. 
During  the  time  of  Common  Prayer  and  the 
Plague  plays  were  forbidden.  Unless  these 
conditions  were  complied  with  actors  were 
considered  as  vagrants. 

In  spite  of  the  active  opposition  of  a  certain 
class,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Court,  the 


The  English  Drama.  77 

stage  obtained  a  permanent  footing  in  Lon- 
don. A  Royal  Grant  was  conferred  upon 
the  Earl  of  Leicester's  players,  who  were 
headed  by  James  Burbage,  father  of  the 
celebrated  Shakespearean  actor,  Richard 
Burbage. 

Hostility  was  soon  rife  between  the  stage 
and  its  mother,  the  church.  On  the  score  of 
ungodliness  theatrical  performances  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  city  by  the  Common  Council. 
Open  warfare  was  at  once  declared  between 
Court  and  city.  The  Privy  Council  com- 
manded the  Lord  Mayor  that  he  should  per- 
mit six  companies  to  play  in  London,  M  By 
reason  that  they  are  appointed  to  play  this 
Christmas  before  her  Majesty."  Finally, 
under  the  powerful  protection  of  the  Queen, 
the  players  were  installed  in  permanent  build- 
ings in  the  suburbs  of  London,  in  Shoreditch, 
at  Blackfriars,  and  on  Bankside. 

Previous  to  this  plays  had  been  commonly 
acted  on  scaffolds,  erected  in  the  yards  and 
galleries  of  inns.  And  it  was  the  scandals, 
caused  chiefly  by  the  surroundings,  that  at- 
tended these  open-air  performances  which 
the  city  had  been  attacking. 

In  1576  the  Lord  Mayor  gave,  unwillingly, 
a  tacit  consent   to   the  erection  of   the    first 


78  The  English  Drama. 

theatre  in  England.  From  this  year  may  be 
said  to  date  the  modern  English  drama,  for  in 
this  year  the  drama,  ceased  to  be  nomadic. 
The  first  building  put  up  for  theatrical  pur- 
poses was  in  Shoreditch,  and  was  appro- 
priately styled,  the  Theatre.  Shortly  after- 
wards a  second  arose  near  by,  which  took  its 
name  from  the  plot  of  ground  on  which  it 
stood,  and  was  called,  the  Curtain.  In  the 
same  year  arose  the  Blackfriar's,  named  from 
its  situation.  This  was  occupied  by  Lord 
Leicester's  players.  These  theatres  were 
crude,  wooden  structures. 

In  1593,  the  most  famous  theatre  in  the 
history  of  the  stage,  as  being  the  scene  of 
Shakespeare's  exploits,  the  Globe,  was  erect- 
ed on  the  Bankside  by  Richard  Burbage, 
leader  of  the  Lord  Chamberlaine's  Men.  It 
was  constructed  of  wood  ;  hexagon-shaped 
without  and  round  within.  There  were  two 
doors,  one  leading  into  the  body  of  the 
house,  the  other  to  the  actors'  dressing-room. 

Excepting  a  thatched  roof,  or  "  heaven," 
projecting  over  the  stage,  the  building  was 
open  to  the  sky.  Railed  off  from  the  stage 
was  a  largv.  central  place  where  the  audience 
stood.  Around  this  central  place  were  private 
boxes    for  those   who    could    pay    for   them. 


The  English  Drama.  79 

The  Globe  was  burned  in  1613  during  a  per- 
formance, probably,  of  Shakespeare's  "  Henry 
VIII.,"  and  in  the  following  year  was  rebuilt, 
this  time  with  a  tiled  roof.  Burbage's  com- 
pany played  here  in  the  summer,  and  at  the 
Blackfriar's  in  the  winter. 

Another  famous  theatre  was  the  Fortune, 
which  was  the  most  commodious  and  elegant 
of  any  that  had  then  been  built  in  England. 
In  1623  it  was  rebuilt — it  is  thought  of  brick. 

The  opposition  to  the  stage  manifested  by 
certain  classes,  and  which  resulted  in  the 
censorship  of  the  Master  of  the  Revels,  a 
still  prevailing  custom,  had,  nevertheless,  a 
beneficial  effect.  To  it  we  may  ascribe  the 
comparative  purity  of  moral  tone  contrasted 
with  the  contemporaneous  drama  of  France 
and  Italy  ;  also  its  total  lack  of  political  and 
religious  satire.  Moreover,  the  actor  became 
more  respectable  and  wealthy,  and  altogether 
the  drama  and  its  appurtenances  made  rapid 
progress. 

The  theatres  were  either  private  or  public. 
The  first  were  smaller  in  size,  roofed  over  and 
frequented  by  a  more  select  audience.  Black- 
friar's was  a  private,  the  Globe  and  the  For- 
tune public  theatres.  The  performances  were 
given    in   the    afternoon,  beginning  at  three 


The  English  Drama. 


o'clock  and  usually  lasted  about  two  hours. 
This  was  in  order  to  let  the  audience  get 
home  before  dark.  When  a  play  was  going 
to  begin  flags  were  hoisted  and  trumpets 
blown.  The  piece  of  the  day  was  generally 
closed  with  an  address  to  the  sovereign.  Then 
followed  a  farce.  Playbills  were  used  to 
announce  the  show  ;  those  of  tragedies  being 
in  red  letters.  Entrance  prices  varied  accord- 
ing to  the  theatre,  location,  etc.  For  ordi- 
nary shows  three  pennies  were  paid.  There 
was  a  two-penny  gallery  in  the  larger 
theatres,  which  fee  was  probably  additional 
to  the  one  for  admission.  On  a  good  night 
prices  ranged  from  sixpence  to  half  a  crown. 
The  commonest  part  of  the  audience  stood  in 
the  open  yard.  In  private  theatres  this  yard 
or  pit  was  furnished  with  benches.  Fashion- 
ables sat  on  three-legged  stools  on  the  stage. 
This  was  vigorously  opposed  in  public 
theatres,  but  the  custom  was  not  abandoned 
until  the  time  of  David  Garrick.  Pick- 
pockets and  cut-purses  were  common,  and  are 
repeatedly  referred  to  in  the  earlier  plays. 
If  one  were  caught  he  was  tied  to  one  of  the 
pillars  on  the  stage  and  pelted  and  scoffed 
during  the  performance.  Attention  was  con- 
centrated  on  the   play  and  the  actors.     The 


The  English  Drama.  81 


scenes  and  properties  were  left  very  largely 
to  the  imagination  of  the  spectators.  The 
stage  was  narrow,  projecting  into  the  yard 
and  surrounded  by  the  audience.  There 
being  no  scenery,  the  poet  had  to  fill  out 
much  with  description.  A  raised  platform 
at  the  back  represented  castle  walls,  bal- 
conies, etc.  Painted  boards  announced  the 
location  cf  the  scene.  The  wardrobe  was 
rich  and  varied  but  not  correct.  Dramatists 
were  often  actors  and  managers,  as  Shakes- 
peare, Jonson,  Hey  wood,  Marlowe,  etc.  Boys 
acted  female  characters.  Actresses  were  seen 
but  once  on  the  stage  until  the  Restoration,  in 
1668.  The  theatre  libraries  were  very  valu- 
able and  so  carefully  hoarded  that  we  have 
received  many  plays  only  through  pirates. 
Having  handed  a  MSS.  to  a  manager  few 
play-wrights  ever  thought  of  publishing  their 
work. 

Such  were  the  theatres  and  their  surround- 
ings in  the  Elizabethan  age,  the  age  which 
produced  the  greatest  poet  of  English  litera- 
ture, and  the  giant  intellect  of  all  literature, 
Shakespeare.  Baptized  April  26th,  1564,  his 
birthday  being  probably  April  23d,  William 
Shakespeare  was  the  third  child,  and  first  son 
of   John    and    Mary    Shakespeare.     His    two 


82  The  English  Drama. 

elder  sisters  died  in  their  infancy  and  before 
his  birth.  Afterwards  were  born  several 
other  children. 

John  Shakespeare  was  a  glover  and 
although  unable  to  write,  was  highly  re- 
spected and  filled  the  offices  of  bailiff  and 
alderman  of  Stratford.  He  afterwards  be- 
came involved  in  pecuniary  troubles  and  was 
deprived  of  his  position.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  been  largely  dependent  upon  his  son 
William  in  his  later  days. 

The  name  ©f  Shakespeare  occurs  for  some 
hundred  years  before  our  great  dramatist 
appeared,  but  there  is  nothing  in  any  way 
remarkable  connected  with  it  until  then. 

A  grant  of  arms  was  made  to  John  Shakes- 
peare, William's  father,  but  it  is  believed  to 
have  been  due  to  the  influence  of  his  mother's 
family,  the  Ardens.  This  was  ancient  and 
considerable,  deriving  its  name  from  the  for- 
est of  Arden  near  which  it  had  possessions 
and  tracing  its  descent  even  into  far  Anglo- 
Saxon  times. 

About  the  life  of  William  Shakespeare  him- 
self I  quote  Stevens'  familiar  summary.  "All 
that  is  known  with  any  degree  of  certainty 
concerning  Shakespeare  is  that  he  was  born 
at    Stratford-upon-Avon,    married    and    had 


The  English  Drama.  83 

children  there  ;  went  to  London,  where  he 
commenced  actor  and  wrote  poems  and  plays; 
returned  to  Stratford  made  his  will,  died  and 
was  buried." 

And  though  this  summary  may  be  some- 
what too  brief,  it  is,  nevertheless,  representa- 
tive to  us  of  our  limited  acquaintance  with  the 
actual  facts  of  our  great  poet's  life.  Very  nearly 
everything  else  concerning  Shakespeare  with 
which  we  are  familiar,  is  merely  anecdote. 
The  story  of  his  beginning  his  theatrical 
career  by  holding  gentlemen's  horses  before 
the  door  of  the  theatre,  and  that  of  the  deer 
stealing,  as  well  as  several  less  savory  ones, 
cannot  be  authenticated,  and  must  be  dis- 
missed from  all  serious  consideration.  At- 
tempts have  been  made  to  show  that  Shake- 
speare was  a  wool-stapler,  a  butcher,  a 
farmer,  a  school-teacher,  a  lawyer's  appren- 
tice, a  surgeon's  apprentice,  and  a  soldier. 
Also  he  has  been  proven  (?)  to  have  been 
respectively  a  Protestant,  an  Atheist,  and  a 
Catholic.  On  the  questions  of  his  religion, 
and  the  manner  in  which  his  early  youth  was 
passed,  we  must  be  content  to  remain  in 
ignorance. 

It  is  common  to  regard  Shakespeare  as  a 
man  of  very  little  learning,  and  his  works  as 


84  The  English  Drama. 

the  productions  of  a  wild,  irresistible  genius. 
This  idea  is  based  partly  on  Jonson's  well- 
known  remark  of  Shakespeare  knowing 
"  little  Latin  and  less  Greek  ;  "  partly  to  the 
mistaken  opinions  so  boldly  asserted  by  the 
commentators  of  succeeding  ages,  who  were 
so  little  able  to  understand  his  genius  and 
who  so  servilely  followed  the  French  school. 
But  the  truth  seems  to  be  that  Shakespeare 
was  a  well  educated  man.  The  very  fact  of 
his  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin,  though 
imperfect,  goes  to  prove  that  he  was  not  the 
illiterate  savage  he  was  long  considered. 
Besides  there  are  few  men  long  out  of  the 
walls  of  their  schools  who  retain  much  more 
than  a  slight  remembrance  of  the  classical 
languages.  Also  his  acquaintance  with  French 
and  Italian  is  undisputed,  and  it  is  probable 
that  he  may  not  have  been  wholly  ignorant 
of  Spanish.  Add  to  this  a  wide  and  varied 
knowledge  of  men  and  their  callings,  of  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  mythology,  and  history, 
and  recalling  his  remarkable  vocabulary,  a 
proof  of  his  extensive  reading,  and  no  sane  man 
can  longer  refuse  to  Shakespeare  the  claim  of 
having  been  well  educated.  Unless,  indeed, 
we  are  to  measure  a  man's  learning  by  the 
number  of  years  spent  within  the  walls  of  a 


The  English  Drama.  85 

school  and   the  degrees  conferred  upon  him 
by  the  universities. 

Certain  it  is  that  Shakespeare  was  married 
before  he  was  nineteen  years  old  to  Anne 
Hathaway,  a  woman  some  eight  years  his 
senior.  Anne  bore  him  three  children  : 
Susanna,  Judith  and  Hamnet,  the  last  two 
being  twins.  Hamnet  died  at  the  age  of 
eleven.  The  last  descendants  of  Susanna  and 
Judith  died  before  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  So  there  survive  no  imme- 
diate representatives  of  the  great  poet.  Late 
in  1586  Shakespeare  left  Stratford  for  Lon- 
don, whether  on  account  of  domestic  in- 
felicity, a  deer-stealing  expedition,  or  simply 
an  attachment  conceived  for  the  stage,  we  are 
not  able  to  say.  Suffice  it  that  he  went  to 
London,  and  in  three  years  became  a  sharer 
in  the  Blackfriar's  Theatre.  Peele  at  this 
time  was  a  member  of  the  same  company, 
the  Lord  Chamberlain's  Players,  and  as  he 
was  then  at  the  height  of  his  fame  and  popu- 
larity as  a  dramatist,  it  is  probable  that 
Shakespeare's  services  were  utilized  as  an 
actor  rather  than  a  play-wright.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  a  good 
actor.  His  instructions  to  the  players  in 
"  Hamlet  "  alone  stamp  him  as  familiar  with 


86  The  English  Drama. 

the  theory  of  his  art.  He  is  recorded  as 
playing  the  ghost  in  "  Hamlet,"  and  tradition 
speaks  of  him  as  Adam  in  "  As  You  Like  It." 
After  Peele  left  the  Lord  Chamberlain's 
Players,  Shakespeare  was  called  upon  to  show 
his  skill  as  a  dramatist,  and  as  his  talent  in 
this  line  became  apparent,  he  was  left  little 
time  for  acting.  The  great  popularity  of  his 
plays,  and  his  published  poems  "  Venus  and 
Adonis  "  and  "  Lucrece,"  soon  placed  him  in 
the  first  rank  of  poets,  and  dramatists.  By 
his  talents,  and  from  what  we  can  learn,  his 
sobriety  and  industry,  Shakespeare  elevated 
a  despised  calling,  and  acquired  a  consider- 
able fortune.  That  he  counted  amongst  his 
friends  and  patrons  such  gentlemen  as  the 
Earl  of  Southampton  and  Pembroke,  is  one 
proof  of  the  higher  tone  of  his  life  when 
compared  with  his  contemporaries  and  prede- 
cessors. In  time  he  was  able  to  purchase 
considerable  property  at  Stratford,  and  retire 
in  plenty  from  the  stage.  The  remainder  of 
his  life  was  passed  in  producing  the  mature 
works  of  his  genius  while  living  quietly  with 
his  family  at  New  Place  in  Stratford.  "  The 
latter  part  of  his  life,"  says  Rowe,  "  was 
spent,  as  all  men  of  good  sense  will  wish 
theirs    may  be,  in   ease,   retirement  and   the 


The  English  Drama.  87 

society  of  his  friends."  As  to  his  personal 
attractions  we  are  told  that  he  was  a  hand- 
some, agreeable  and  witty  gentleman. 

These  are  the  main  reliable  facts  in  the  life 
of  .William  Shakespeare  ;  actor,  author, 
manager,  gentleman.  And  from  these  we 
will  learn  that  there  is  little  to  interfere  with 
the  noblest  idea  we  can  form  of  his  character 
and  conduct.  The  custom  of  attaching  un- 
savory anecdotes  to  the  name  of  a  great  man 
can  not  be  sufficiently  frowned  upon.  Man's 
life  is  filled  with  enough  real  mistakes  and 
weaknesses,  and  there  is  no  necessity  to 
accept  pure  tradition  in  order  to  prove  him 
human. 

All  attempts  to  classify  Shakespeare's 
works  must  be  largely  arbitrary.  If  an  exact 
chronological  order  is  observed,  there  is  no 
great  degree  of  certainty  to  reward  the 
student  ;  if  the  divisions  of  Comedy,  History 
and  Tragedy,  there  is  much  perplexity  and 
doubt.  Yet  to  treat  our  subject  at  all  in- 
telligently and  systematically,  it  is  necessary 
to  adopt  some  scheme  of  classification.  Con- 
tenting ourselves  then  with  approximate 
dates,  and  dispensing  with  absolute  correct- 
ness, we  will  take  the  year  1600  and  arrange 
Shakespeare's  plays  in  two  classes,  viz.:    those 


The  English  Drama. 


that  appeared  before  and  those  that  appeared 
after  the  year  1600  ;  that  is,  the  earlier  and 
the  later  plays.  These  two  classes  we  will 
subdivide  into  Comedies,  Histories  and 
Tragedies. 

The -tests  which  enable  us  to  determine  the 
approximate  date  of  a  play  are  twofold,  the 
external  and  the  internal.  The  first  consists 
of  obtaining  the  latest  date  at  which  it  must 
have  been  in  existence,  by  means  of  mention 
in  books  and  documents  of  a  certain  date. 
The  latter,  the  internal,  consists  in  allusions 
in  the  play  itself  ;  in  the  style,  versification 
and  mental  development.  What  is  meant  by 
the  mental  development  is  the  display  of 
perception  of  character,  depth,  force,  magni- 
tude of  idea,  treatment  of  subject,  etc.  As 
it  would  be  folly  to  ascribe  "  Macbeth  "  to 
his  youth  or  the  "Comedy  of  Errors"  to 
his  maturity.  The  very  nature  of  the 
plays  makes  this  evident  to  even  a  casual 
reader. 

Keeping  our  landmark,  the  year  1600, 
plainly  in  view,  we  find  that  previous  to  that 
time,  or  in  his  earlier  period,  Shakespeare 
wrote  nine  comedies,  nine  histories  and  two 
tragedies.  In  his  later  period  we  find  five 
comedies,  one  history  and  eleven,  tragedies. 


The  English  Drama.  89 

I.    THE    EARLIER    PERIOD, 

(a)  Comedies. 

Love's  Labour's  Lost.  Merry  Wives  of  Wind- 
Comedy  of  Errors.  sor. 

Two    Gentlemen     of  Merchant  of  Venice. 

Verona.  A  Midsummer  Night's 
Taming  of  the  Shrew.         Dream. 

All's  Well  That  Ends  Much       Ado      About 

Well.  Nothing. 

(b)  Histories. 

King  John.  Henry  V. 

Richard  II.  Henry  VI.,  3  parts. 

Henry  IV.,  2  parts.        Richard  III. 

(c)  Tragedies. 
Titus  Andronicus.  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

II.  THE  LATER  PERIOD. 

(a) ,  Comedies. 

Twelfth  Night.  The  Winter's  Tale. 

As  You  Like  It.  The  Tempest. 

Measure  for  Measure. 

(0)  Histories. 
Henry  VIII. 


90  The  English  Drama. 

(c)  Tragedies. 

Julius  Caesar.  Antony     and     Cleo- 

Hamlet.  patra. 

King  Lear.  Troilus  and  Cressida. 

Othello.  Macbeth. 

Timon  of  Athens.  Cymbeline. 

Pericles.  Coriolanus. 

Shakespeare's  career  as  a  dramatist  prob- 
ably began  with  working  over  old  plays. 
Then  he  very  likely  turned  his  attention  to 
dramatizing  popular  novels  and  the  stories  of 
the  Chronicles.  And  it  was  only  late  in  life 
that  he  took  the  trouble  to  invent  his  own 
plots.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  a  num- 
ber of  reasons.  Plays  were  demanded  in 
rapid  succession.  Older  favorites  were  called 
for,  but  with  new  embellishments.  Freshness 
of  treatment  rather  than  freshness  of  story 
was  expected.  The  popularity  of  the  novels 
translated  from  the  Italian  made  their  drama- 
tization profitable. 

Looking  upon  "  Titus  Andronicus  "  as  an  old 
play  simply  retouched  by  Shakespeare,  we 
perceive  that  his  first  works  were  comedies 
and  histories,  the  sources  of  which  were  easily 
obtainable  from  the  Chronicles  and  Italian 
novels,    and    the    treatment    of    which    by    a 


The  English  Drama.  91 

young  poet  of  genius  would  naturally  be 
happy.  Previous  to  1600  he  composed  but 
two  tragedies  proper,  and  only  one  of  these, 
"  Romeo  and  Juliet,"  has  been  accepted  as 
entirely  his  own.  This  is  the  proper  develop- 
ment. Comedy  calls  for  less  skill  and  experi- 
ence in  both  matter  and  manner  than  tragedy, 
and  serves  to  evolve  the  latent  genius  and 
strengthen  the  poet  for  the  severer  demands 
of  the  serious  drama.  It  may  be  objected 
that  "  John  "  and  "  Richard  III."  are  tragedies. 
But  here  much  was  supplied  by  history  that 
could  have  been  evolved  otherwise  only  with 
long  years  of  experience.  And  these  tragic 
attempts  of  his  early  career,  though  wonder- 
ously  rich  in  language  and  burning  thoughts, 
show  many  faults  of  versification  and  con- 
struction not  to  be  found  in  his  later  works. 
Rime,  from  which  Shakespeare  did  not  for 
a  long  time  free  himself,  is  particularly  notice- 
able all  through  this  first  period,  and  while 
not  inconsistent  with  the  lighter  work  of 
comedy,  is  at  variance  with,  and  so,  as  a  rule, 
offensive  to,  the  spirit  of  tragedy.  In  Shake- 
speare's grandest  tragedies,  as  "  Macbeth  " 
and  "  Antony  and  Cleopatra,"  there  is  almost 
a  total  absence  of  rime,  being  only  used 
where  it  becomes  at  once  an  ornament  and  a 


92  The  English  Drama. 

necessity.  All  through  this  first  period  the 
freshness,  boldness  and  light-heartedness  of 
youth  is  constantly  bubbling  forth.  There  is 
a  wild  exuberance  of  fancy  and  imagination 
which  nothing  can  restrain.  Only  age  is  able 
to  check  and  hold  this  within  its  proper 
bounds. 

Gradually  the  play-wright  acquired  a  firm 
grasp  on  his  subjects  and  a  thorough  mastery 
of  his  verse.  Still  he  is  loath  to  part  with  the 
loved  excrescences  of  poetry,  but  they  appear 
less  frequently.  What  a  wonderful  advance 
in  power  and  breadth  of  treatment  from  the 
"  Comedy  of  Errors  "  and  "  Love's  Labour's 
Lost "  to  the  "  Merchant  of  Venice  "  and  "  A 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream." 

In  the  second  period  we  are  at  once  struck 
by  the  preponderance  of  tragedy.  We  have 
but  one  history,  Henry  VIII.,  and  this  by  its 
treatment  shows  the  poet  to  have  grown 
rather  weary  of  working  over  the  English 
Chronicles.  There  is  a  decided  tendency  in 
it  for  the  imagination  to  leave  the  region  of 
the  actual.  And  in  the  comedies  likewise  the 
sombre  or  the  fantastical  strive  for  place. 
u  Twelfth  Night  "  and  "  As  You  Like  It,"  suc- 
ceeding closely  the  "  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,"  are  permeated  with  the  same  idyllic 


The  English  Drama.  93 

character  which  was  to  reach  its  height  in 
the  "Tempest."  In  both  is  perceivable  also 
the  serious  phase  which  becomes  so  compre- 
hensive in  "  Measure  for  Measure  "  and  "  The 
Winter's  Tale  "  as  almost  to  remove  them  from 
the  field  of  comedy.  Shakespeare  found  now 
the  proper  scope  for  his  developed  powers  to 
be  afforded  best  by  tragedy.  Here  he  could 
depict  heroic  characters,  gigantic  sins  and 
crimes  and  inmeasurable  suffering.  The  le- 
gends and  histories  of  the  world  were  called 
upon  to  furnish  him  with  themes  upon  which 
he  should  pour  forth  his  majestic  imagery 
and  poetry.  Roman  history  gave  rise  to 
what  Ulrici  has  called  the  Roman  cycle,  viz.: 
"  Coriolanus,"  "Julius  Caesar,"  "  Antony  and 
Cleopatra"  and  "  Timon  of  Athens."  "Per- 
icles "  and  "  Troilus  and  Cressida  "  came  from 
the  east.  "  Hamlet  "  and  "Macbeth"  from 
the  north.  "  Othello "  from  the  south. 
"  Lear  "  and  "  Cymbeline  "  were  indigenous. 
And  of  these  nine  are  masterpieces  of  drama- 
tic poetry. 

In  his  comedies  and  tragedies  Shake- 
speare's genius  was  ever  on  the  ascending 
scale.  The  last  were  his  greatest.  In  the 
historical  plays,  however,  the  height  of  this 
style  is  reached  in  Henry  V.     The  remaining 


94  Tie  English  Drama. 

plays  are  inferior  to  that  in  merit.  And  this 
may  be  traced  to  a  very  apparent  cause. 
Ulrici  has  pointed  out  that  each  play  was 
given  a  central,  life-bestowing  idea  ;  that  in 
the  working  out  of  this  there  must  be  an  in- 
crease in  interest  and  in  action,  until  the 
climax,  the  catastrophe  is  reached,  after 
which  there  is  necessarily  a  decrease  of  in- 
terest, and  the  chief  object  is  to  dispose  of 
affairs  as  rapidly  and  consistently  as  possible. 
Now  in  the  ten  historical  plays,  while  each  is 
complete  in  itself,  yet  they  are  all  related  to 
one  another,  and  go  to  make,  up  a  grand 
whole.  That  is,  each  has  its  own  individual 
permeating  idea,  but  subservient  to  one 
grand  idea,  which  runs  through  them  all, 
connecting  them  as  by  a  thread.  Accepting 
then  the  theory  that  these  ten  histories  are 
to  be  considered  respectively  as  so  many  acts 
of  one  great  play,  the  central  idea  running 
through  them  must  ever  increase  in  interest 
and  importance,  until  the  climax  is  reached, 
after  which  we  hasten  towards  our  conclusion. 
This  drama,  whose  central  idea  is  the  usurpa- 
tion of  the  throne  by  the  house  of  Lancaster, 
has  for  its  prologue  "  King  John,"  and  for  its 
epilogue  "  Henry  VIII."  The  pinnacle  of 
fame  for  his  house  was  reached  in  the  glorious 


The  English  Drama.  95 

reign  of  Henry  V.  From  this  all  that  fol- 
lowed was  a  rapid  descent.  A  like  effort  has 
been  ifiade  to  discover  a  connection  between 
the  four  tragedies,  "  Coriolanus,"  "  Julius 
Caesar,"  "  Antony  and  Cleopatra,"  and 
"  Timon  of  Athens,"  and  a  very  ingenious 
result  has  been  obtained.  Ulrici  states 
these  plays  to  form  a  cycle,  whose  ob- 
ject is  the  representation  of  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  Roman  sovereignty.  *  "  Coriolanus  " 
depicts  the  struggle  between  patricians  and 
plebeians.  "  Julius  Caesar,"  the  destruction 
of  the  republic.  "Antony  and  Cleopatra," 
the  victory  of  the  empire.  "  Timon  of 
Athens,"  the  corruption,  which  in  its  turn  is 
to  destroy  that  empire. 

Commentators  on  Shakespeare  have  so 
diligently  and  perseveringly  hunted  out  and 
dug  up  every  probable  and  possible  bit  of 
material  or  matter  which  might  have  con- 
tributed to  a  portion  of  his  works,  or  from 
which  he  may  have  drawn  an  inspiration  ; 
they  have  pointed  out  so  much  in  his  plays 
that  he  did  not  write  that  one  is  apt  to  pause 
and  wonder  what  he  did  write,  and  whether 
this  Shakespeare  was  the  wonderful  man  we 
have  been  taught  to  believe  him,  and  wherein 
lies  the  great  service  he  has  rendered  English 


g6  The  English  Drama. 

literature,  and  why  he  should  be  considered 
the  poet  preeminent,  if  he  is  a  vulgar  plagiarist, 
who  has  given  to  the  world  nothing  new,  but 
has  merely  arranged  his  plays  from  matter 
that  in  one  form  or  another  was  already  in 
existence.  Then  must  we,  if  possible,  com- 
pare the  sources  with  the  plays  themselves, 
and  forgetting  the  critic  and  the  commen- 
tator, try  for  ourselves  to  discover  the  essen- 
tial difference.  It  will  not  be  difficult.  It 
lies  in  the  difference  between  loose  piles  of 
brick  and  mortar  and  the  palace,  between  the 
crude  paints  when  in  the  pots  and  when  on 
the  canvas.  The  intellect  of  the  architect, 
the  hand  of  the  artist.  That  is  the  differ- 
ence. We  are  not  indebted  to  Shakespeare 
for  the  brick  and  mortar,  the  paint  and 
canvas  he  has  used,  but  for  the  house  he  has 
built,  the  picture  he  has  painted.  He  has 
breathed  life  into  the  otherwise  well-nigh 
inanimate  objects.  When  we  begin  to  appre- 
ciate the  spirit  of  his  compositions,  we  under- 
stand wherein  consists  his  greatness.  True, 
a  Juliet,  a  Rosalind,  a  Cleopatra  existed  in 
literature  before  Shakespeare  wrote,  but 
what  lifeless  creatures  they  are  beside  his 
immortal  trio.  A  revengeful  Jew,  a  melan- 
choly Dane,  a  bJindly  fond  father  and  king 


The  English  Drama.  97 

were  to  be  found  in  literature,  but  no  such 
Shylock,  nor  Hamlet,  nor  Lear.  Holinshed, 
Stowe  and  Halle's  Chronicles,  Plutarch's 
Lives,  Boccaccio's  Decameron,  Italian  novels, 
English^  plays  furnished  Shakespeare  only 
with  skeletons  which  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
make  use  of,  and  clothe  with  flesh  and  blood. 

In  his  comedies  what  infinite  charm  of 
poetry  and  poetic  feeling  !  What  delicate 
touches  and  what  beautiful  imagery  !  What 
sustained  humor  and  exquisite  lyrics  !  What 
sympathy  with  and  understanding  of  charac- 
ter !  And  lastly  what  comprehensive  treat- 
ment of  the  whole  ! 

Ulrici  makes  two  general  groups  of  come- 
dies under  the  heads  of  fancy  and  intrigue, 
according  as  the  one  or-the  other  predom- 
inates. The  comedies  of  fancy  he  places 
without  the  range  of  possibility  although  with 
its  every  seeming.  And  here  he  would  range 
"  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  "  with  its  fairies, 
"  The  Tempest "  with  its  magic,  "  As  You 
Like  It,"  with  its  idyllic  and  impossible  for- 
est of  Arden,  "  Twelfth  Night,"  with  its  fantas- 
tic events.  The  second  class,  the  comedy  of 
intrigue,  includes  "  Love's  Labour's  Lost" 
with  its  conflict  of  inclination  and  duties, 
"Comedy    of    Errors"    with    its    bewildering 


98  The  English  Drama. 

pairs  of  twins,  "  The  Winter's  Tale,"  "  Meas- 
ure for  Measure  "  and  "  Merchant  of  Venice  " 
where  life,  honor  and  happiness  are  at  stake. 

In  the  comedies  there  is  always  depicted 
the  struggle  of  the  real  and  the  apparent, 
with  the  final  victory  of  the  former.  In 
"  Love's  Labour's  Lost  "  it  is  the  conflict  be- 
tween real  and  apparent  inclinations,  and  it 
is  only  when  the  king  cmd  his  lords  prove 
false  to  their  vows  and  true  to  their  affections 
that  the  play  ends.  No  close  is  possible  to 
the  "  Comedy  of  Errors  "  till  the  twins  are 
brought  face  to  face  and  their  actual  identity 
established.  Katherine  and  Petruchio,  Bea- 
trice and  Benedict,Violaand  Orsino,Hermione 
and  Perdita,  Rosalind  and  Celia  must  dis- 
pense with  their  masks  and  become  their 
genuine  selves  ere  the  final  curtain  may  drop. 

Likewise  S'hakespeare  is  fono.  of  contrast- 
ing characters.  Opposite  the  shrew  he  places 
the  master.  The  faithful  wife  and  the  false 
husband  are  confronted  ;  the  virtuous  maid 
and  the  licentious  suitor.  But  the  most  beau- 
tiful contrast  Ulrici  has  shown  to  be  in  "  The 
Merchant  of  Venice,"  which  he  says  represents 
human  life  as  a  great  law-suit,  with  Shylock 
impersonating  revenge,  and  Portia  mercy, 
with  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  latter. 


The  English  Drama.  99 

"...  none  of  us 
Should  see  salvation  ;  we  do  pray  for  mercy. 
And  that  same  prayer  doth  teach  us  all  to  render, 
The  deeds  of  mercy — " 

This  contains  the  thought,  the  purpose  of 
the  whole  play. 

In  this  phase  of  the  drama  Shakespeare 
delights  in  making  a  woman  the  principal 
character,  and  what  charming  types  does  he 
present  us  !  The  spoilt  but  magnificent 
Katherine  ;  the  loving  and  devoted  Helena  ; 
the  wise  and  womanly  Portia  ;  the  brilliant 
and  sarcastic  yet  tender-hearted  Beatrice  ; 
the  gentle  but  charming  Viola  ;  that  person- 
ification of  caprice  and  mischief,  Rosalind  ; 
the  faithful  arid  suffering  Hermione  ;  the 
noble  and  chaste  Isabella.  Nor  are  these 
women  simply  types  of  an  age.  They  are 
types  of  womankind  for  all  ages.  Shakes- 
peare perceived  that  woman  with  her  natural 
tendency  to  intrigue,  her  capriciousness,  rash- 
ness and  inconsistency  is  especially  suited  to 
be  the  central  figure  about  which  a  comedy 
may  be  composed. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  character  of 
the  clown,  the  court-fool,  occurring  so  often 
in  the  comedies,  is  found  in  but  one  tragedy, 
King  Lear,  and    here  it  is  of    great    artistic 


ioo  The  English  Drama. 

value.  This  judicious  use  of  a  popular 
role  is  another  proof  of  the  master's  skill  and 
the  fact  that  he  worked  by  design  and  not,  as 
some  would  have  us  believe  by  inspiration 
and  chance. 

In  our  admiration  we  must  not  be  blind  to 
defects,  however.  Even  Shakespeare  is  not 
faultless,  or  rather  the  materials  he  used  are 
not  always  perfect.  We  can  not  close  our 
eyes  to  the  disagreeable  stories  of  "  All's  Well 
that  Ends  Well  "  and  "  Measure  for  Measure." 

Nor  can  we  feel  satisfied  with  the  termina- 
tion of  the  latter  piece.  Poetical,  if  not 
worldly,  justice  calls  for  a  tragic  end,  or  at 
least  a  severe  punishment  for  Angelo.  The 
separation  of  "  The  Winter's  Tale  "  into  two 
such  distinct  parts  is  undoubtedly  a  defect. 
So  great  a  one  in  fact  that  in  recent  years  but 
one  great  actress  has  deemed  it  suitable  for 
the  stage  and  successfully  produced  it.  "  The 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor "  shows  haste  in 
construction  and  the  treatment  of  Sir  John 
Falstaff  is  widely  at  variance  with  the  same 
character,  as  it  occurs  in  Henry  IV. 

Of  Shakespeare's  maturest  efforts,  of  his 
great  tragedies,  what  can  I  say,  what  can  any- 
one say,  what  is  there  left  to  be  said  ?  Is  it 
not  enough  to  remark  that  since  he  dealt  with 


The  English  Drama. 


the  subjects,  so  enticing  and  full  of  interest 
to  the  dramatist,  of  the  eleven  tragedies  of  his 
second  period  but  few  have  ever  been  handled 
by  English  play-wrights. 

As  women  were  the  principal  figures  of  his 
comedies,  so  are  men  of  his  tragedies.  Their 
superior  strength,  greater  opportunities, 
higher  development,  wider  ambition,  more 
brutal  courage,  made  them  naturally  fitter 
objects  for  such  a  purpose.  The  deeply 
philosophical  Hamlet,  whose  reason,  not  his 
irresolution,  makes  for  him  a  hell  of  earth. 
Lear,  the  fond  father,  stubborn  and  blind  he 
lives,  blind  and  heart-broken  he  dies.  Roble 
Othello,  "  whose  hand,  like  the  base  Indian, 
threw  a  pearl  away  richer  than  all  his  tribe." 
Ambitious,  bloody  and  conscience-stricken 
Macbeth,  whose  punishment  while  living 
leaves  to  that  which  may  be  hereafter  but 
few  horrors.  Arrogant,  haughty,  heroic 
Coriolanus,  that  would  not  yield  to  the  de- 
mands or  prayers  of  a  people,  yet  submitted 
to  the  voice  of  a  woman.  Antony,  who  sold 
the  world  for  his  mistress.  Faithful  Troilus, 
imperial  Caesar,  subtle  Cassius,  noble  Brutus. 
What  a  galaxy  of  giants  !  What  a  collection 
of  heroes ! 

But  though  the  interest  is  centered  in  man, 


The  English  Drama. 


Shakespeare  did  not  neglect  the  serious  op- 
portunities of  woman,  but  has  complemented 
his  tragic  picture  of  man  with  one  of  woman, 
which,  if  not  equally  great,  fails,  because  of 
her  nature,  not  because  of  the  artist.  Beside 
Hamlet  we  find  the  unfortunate  Ophelia. 
By  Lear  is  the  beautiful  Cordelia.  Othello 
has  his  Desdemona,  lovely  in  her  innocence 
and  sorrow.  Cymbeline  gives  us  Imogen. 
Coriolanus,  Volumnia,  the  Roman  matron. 
By  Troilus  is  placed  the  false  Cressida  ;  by 
Macbeth  the  majestic,  star-aspiring,  yet 
affectionate,  Lady  Macbeth.  By  Antony's 
side  that  "most  wonderful,  most  incompre- 
hensible, most  fascinating  woman  that  ever 
existed  in  life  or  literature,  Cleopatra.  As 
she  was,  so  Shakespeare  paints  her,  or  else 
she  never  was. 

It  has  been  objected  to  "  Julius  Caesar  "  that 
the  play  falls  with  Caesar's  death  into  two 
parts,  in  the  first  of  which  we  follow  the  for- 
tunes of  one  hero,  and  in  the  latter  of  another. 
But  this  is,  I  think,  quite  erroneous.  The 
hero  of  the  play  is  not  Caesar,  but  Brutus,  and 
it  is  his  fortunes  and  his  sufferings  and  his 
fall  in  which  the  interest  is  centered  and  upon 
which  the  drama  is  founded.  Complaint  has 
been  made  to  Hamlet's  so-called  irresolution, 


The  English  Drama. 


103 


but  this  is  removed  when  we  recognize  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  cowardly  hesitancy,  but 
philosophical  weighing  of  right  and  wrong 
that  restrains  Hamlet  from  action,  and  it  is 
only  in  momentary  passion  that  he  can  possi- 
bly commit  such  a  crime  as  murder.  I  have 
little  liking  for  either  "  Timon  of  Athens,"  or 
"  Pericles,"  and  am  quite  willing  to  believe 
the  critics,  who  state  that  Shakespeare's 
authorship  is  here  doubtful,  and  is  at  best 
confined  to  certain  passages. 

In  answer  to  the  charge  of  immorality  some- 
times brought  against  our  author,  let  us  read 
what  Coleridge  says :  "  Shakespeare  may 
sometimes  be  gross,  but  I  boldly  say  that 
he  is  always  moral  and  modest.  Alas !  in 
our  day  decency  of  manners  is  preserved 
at  the  expense  of  morality  of  heart,  and 
delicacies  for  vice  allowed,  while  grossness 
against  it  is  hypocritically,  or  at  least 
morbidly,  condemned."  And  this  is  the 
judgment  of  a  man  whose  understanding  of 
Shakespeare  is  unquestioned.  Schlegel,  the 
eminent  German  critic,  says  :  "  The  objection 
that  Shakespeare  wounds  our  feelings  by  the 
open  display  of  the  most  disgusting  moral 
odiousness,  unmercifully  harrows  up  the 
mind,   and    tortures   even    our   eyes  by   the 


104  The  English  Drama. 

exhibition  of  the  most  insupportable  and 
hateful  spectacles,  is  one  of  great  and  grave 
importance.  He  has,  in  fact,  never  varnished 
over  wild  and  blood-thirsty  passions  with  a 
pleasing  exterior — never  clothed  crime  and 
want  of  principle  with  a  false  show  of  great- 
ness of  soul  ;  and  in  that  respect  he  is  in 
every  way  deserving  of  praise.  The  reading, 
and  still  more  the  sight  of  some  of  his  pieces, 
is  not  advisable  to  weak  nerves  any  more  Irian 
was  the  'Eumenides,'  of  Aeschylus;  but  is 
the  poet  who  can  only  reach  an  important 
object  by  a  bold  and  hazardous  daring  to  be 
checked  by  consideration  for  such  persons  ? 
If  effeminacy  is  to  serve  as  a  general  stan- 
dard of  what  tragical  composition  may  prop- 
erly exhibit  to  human  nature,  we  shall  be 
forced  to  set  very  narrow  limits,  indeed,  to 
art,  and  the  hope  of  anything  like  powerful 
effect  must  at  once  and  forever  be  renounced." 
When  we  consider  the  plain  speech  customary 
in  his  age,  and  when  we  behold  in  the  works 
of  his  contemporaries,  predecessors  and  suc- 
cessors, a  manner  of  language  and  thought 
unutterably  vicious,  we  will  no  longer  censure 
him  on  the  moral  score,  but  rather  wonder  at 
the  purity  and  cleanness  of  such  works  as  are 
beyond  doubt  his. 


The  English  Drama.  105 

On  the  significance  of  the  titles  given  his 
plays  much  might  be  said.  His  histories 
bear  most  properly  the  names  of  the  different 
reigns  about  which  they  treat.  What  images 
are  conjured  up  by  the  appellations  Richard 
II.  and  III.,  John,  Henry  IV.  and  VIII.,  and 
how  consistent  are  these  images  with  the 
plays  for  which  the  titles  stand  !  Notice  the 
brevity  of  the  titles  of  the  tragedies.  Simply 
a  name  or  at  most  two.  But  by  these  names 
are  summoned  up  a  whole  world  of  thoughts 
and  feelings,  deep,  grand  and  terrible.  Turn 
to  the  comedies,  and,  on  the  contrary,  what 
long  and  fantastical  headings  ?— "  As  You 
Like  It,"  "  Twelfth  Night,  or  What  You 
Will,"  "  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "  The 
Tempest."  Do  not  these  names  form  indices 
to  all  that  follows  ?  Are  we  not  sufficiently 
prepared  for  intrigues,  storms  and  mistakes 
when  we  read  the  titles,  "  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor,"  "  Taming  of  the  Shrew,"  and 
"  Comedy  of  Errors  ?  "  Even  here  as  else- 
where nothing  is  left  to  chance,  and  all  is 
imbued  with  significance. 

A  list  of  the  plays  which  have  at  one  time 
or  another  been  ascribed  to  Shakespeare,  but 
all  of  which  we  can  very  safely  refuse  to 
acknowledge  as  genuine,  may  be  interesting  : 


106  The  English  Drama. 

"Thomas,  Lord  Cromwell,"  "Sir  John  Old- 
castle,"  "  The  Yorkshire  Tragedy,"  "  Lo- 
crine,"  "  The  London  Prodigal,"  "  The  Puri- 
tan," "The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen,"  "The 
Birth  of  Merlin,"  "The  Merry  Devil  of 
Edmonton,"  "  Edward  III.,"  "  Mucedorus," 
"Arden  of  Feversham,"  "Alarum  for  Lon- 
don," "Fair  Em,"  "The  Arraignment  of 
Paris,"  "  The  Double  Falsehood,"  Dekker's 
"  Satiro-Mastix,"  "  Wily  Beguiled,"  "  The 
Tragical  and  Lamentable  Murder  of  Master 
George  Saunders,"  Ford's  "  Lover's  Melan- 
choly," and  Greene's  "  George-a-Greene, 
Pinner  of  Wakefield." 

During  his  life  Shakespeare's  plays  were 
remarkably  popular,  and  enabled  him  to  re- 
tire in  comfort  before  old  age  overtook  him. 
Yet  his  great  genius  was  really  recognized 
by  only  a  few  patrons  and  some  of  his  literary 
contemporaries,  chiefly  dramatists.  Of  his 
thirty-seven  plays* only  eighteen  were  pub- 
lished before  his  death,  the  first  collection 
seven  years  afterwards  in  1623. 

With  the  growth  of  Puritanism  Shakes- 
peare's fame  waned,  and  with  the  Revolution 
all  representations  ceased.  However,  Shakes- 
peare was  not  forgotten,  as  he  still  continued 
to  reign  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  supreme, 


The  English  Drama.  107 

The  Restoration  revivified  the  well-nigh 
lifeless  drama,  and  the  stage  again  became  an 
important  factor  in  the  life  of  the  people.  The 
strong  characters  in  Shakespeare's  plays  made 
them  attractive  to  ambitious  actors,  and  once 
more  they  were  performed. 

But  unfortunately,  the  false  taste  acquired 
from  the  French,  caused  them  to  be  looked 
upon  as  remarkable,  but  exceedingly  faulty, 
productions,  and  managers,  actors  and  authors 
did  not  hesitate  to  adapt,  re-arrange,  improve 
and  generally  mutilate  them.  Dryden,  D'Ave- 
nant,  Granville,  D'Urfey,  Lacy,  etc.,  were 
foremost  in  this  ghoulish  work.  We  find 
even  the  titles  changed.  "  Cymbeline "  be- 
comes "  The  Injured  Princess,  or  The  Fatal 
Wager  "  ;  "  Antony  and  Cleopatra,"  "  All 
for  Love  "  ;  "  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor," 
"  The  Comical  Gallant,  or  The  Amours  of  Sir 
John  Falstaff."  But  the  most  remarkable 
transformation  was  when  John  Lacy  dubbed 
"  Taming  of  the  Shrew,"  "  Sauny  the  Scot," 
and  changed  Grumio  into  a  Scotchman,  and 
the  verse  of  the  play  into  prose. 

Sometimes  changes  were  made  more  intel- 
ligently, and  with  more  show  of  reason,  as  when 
Colley  Cibben  altered  "Richard  III."  to  suit 
the  requirements  of  the  remodeled  stage.  Gen- 


108  The  English  Drama. 

erally  only  the  most  effective  passages  were 
left  untouched,  but  the  editors  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  expunge  what  they  deemed  Shakes- 
peare's harshnesses  and  excrescences.  Power- 
ful scenes  were  toned  down  and  diluted.  Ten- 
derness was  intensified  and  additional  gross- 
ness  bestowed  upon  the  comic  characters. 

After  the  Stuarts  were  expelled,  the  king  and 
people  withdrew  their  favor  from  the  exces- 
sively licentious  drama,  and  foreign  plays 
and  models  came  into  vogue.  The  Italian 
Opera  was  introduced.  Corneille,  Racine 
and  Moliere  were  translated  and  imitated. 
Addison's  "  Cato  "  appeared. 

But  in  all  merely  imitative  literary  periods 
attention  and  study  is  directed  to  former 
achievements,  and  that  is  what  occurred  in 
William's  reign.  Nicholas  Rowe,  and  then 
Pope,  edited  Shakespeare's  plays,  and  a  fresh 
impetus  w^s  given  to  his  popularity.  Gradu- 
ally actors,  managers  and  learned  men,  came 
to  understand  the. greatness  and  worth  of  our 
dramatist.  Editions  rapidly  followed  one 
another.  The  attention  of  other  nations  was 
attracted  to  the  works  of  a  man  whom  they 
deemed  a  kind  of  savage  genius. 

But  the  greatest  impulse  to  an  apprecia- 
tion of  Shakespeare  was  given  by  an  actor, 


The  English  Drama.  109 

David  Garrick.  During  his  management  of 
Drury  Lane  (1747-1776)  he  produced  in  the 
original  texts  twenty-four  of  Shakespeare's 
works,  and  appeared  himself  in  seventeen 
different  Shakespearean  characters.  Although 
he  is  not  free  from  the  charge  of  mutilating 
the  plays  in  some  degree,  yet  Garrick  per- 
formed an  invaluable  benefit  to  the  drama 
and  to  literature  in  reviving  the  original 
works,  and  in  spreading  broadcast  a  profound 
admiration  and  respect  for  our  greatest  dra- 
matist and  poet. 

However,  it  was  not  until  the  early  part 
of  this  century  that  Shakespeare  came  to  be 
regarded  in  his  true  light,  from  a  literary 
point  of  view.  Before  Coleridge  English 
writers  generally  had  criticized  unmercifully 
the  construction,  the  non-observance  of  uni- 
ties, the  moral  tone,  the  verbiage  and  the 
grossness  to  be  found  in  Shakespeare's  works. 

But  Coleridge  in  England,  Hugo  in  France, 
Lessing,  Schlegel,  Tieck  and  Ulrici  in  Ger- 
many, soon  proved  that  Shakespeare  had 
been  entirely  misunderstood  and  that  he  is* 
guilty  of  few,  if  any,  of  the  sins  accounted  to 
him.  Since  then  all  study  of  our  author  has 
been  accompanied  by  veneration,  and  instead 
of  willfully  mutilating  and  mercilessly  criti- 


no  -The  English  Drama. 

cizing,    editors    now    labor    to   restore    and 
elucidate  his  texts. 

His  works  in  part  or  in  whole  have  been 
translated  into  Italian,  Portugese,  Danish, 
Swedish,  Dutch,  Frisian,  Bohemian,  Hungar- 
ian, Wallachian,  "Moslem  Greek,"  Polish, 
Russian  and  Bengalee.  Truly,  Shakespeare 
is  not  the  mouth-piece  of  simply  one  people, 
but  of  the  whole  civilized  world, 


The  English  Drama.  in 

IV. 

JONSON     AND     HIS    CONTEMPORARIES. 

The  Elizabethan  drama  is  the  phenomenon 
of  English  and  the  marvel  of  every  other  lit- 
erature. It  is  seldom  in  the  history  of  literary 
activity  that  so  much  finds  expression  in  so 
short  a  time.  The  half  century  which  the 
years  1590  and  1640  includes,  is  the  period 
which  embraces  the  greatest  names  and  marks 
the  greatest  epoch  of  the  English  drama.  It 
is  the  period  which  produced  more  than  forty 
poets,  ten  of  whom  are  of  superior  rank  and 
one  the  most  admirable,  possibly,  that  the 
world  has  ever  known.  It  was  a  time  when- 
men  felt  deeply,  believed  blindly,  loved  pas- 
sionately and  expressed  themselves  boldly. 
Nothing  was  too  sacred  or  profane,  too  deli- 
cate or  too  coarse,  too  tender  or  too  brutal 
for  these  Titans  of  the  theatre  to  depict. 
Man  they  dissected  and  mercilessly  revealed 
his  passions,  emotions,  sentiments,  actions  as 
they  found  them,  good  or  bad  ;  oftener  good 
and  bad,  for  they  did  not  hesitate  to  represent 


The  English  Drama. 


the  real  man,  that  mixture  of  nobility  and 
baseness,  strength  and  weakness.  Of  their 
works  it  has  been  said  that,  "  The  plays  of 
the  least  known  writers  of  that  time  are  more  . 
remarkable  than  the  most  celebrated  of  all 
the  succeeding  times."  And  while  this  is  an 
extreme  view,  and  one  that  I  do  not  think  we 
should  wholly  concur  in,  it  is  to  a  certain 
extent  true.  The  Elizabethan  poets  produced 
hundreds  of  pieces,  fifty  at  least  of  which  we 
may  rank  as  masterpieces.  There  was  no 
province  of  history  or  imagination  that  their 
genius  did  not  compass  and,  freed  from 
restraint,  there  was  little  that  they  did  not 
attempt.  Tragedy,  comedy,  romantic  and 
domestic  drama,  chronicle  histories,  all  filled 
with  truthful  and  living  portraits  and  details, 
reflecting  the  mind  and  manners  of  their  age 
and  nation.  In  this  literature  we  find  much 
that  is  gross  and  repulsive,  much  that  to  us 
seems  shockingly  immoral,  much  that  indi- 
cates the  decline  of  the  drama.  But  the  whole 
period  is  marked  by  vigor,  genius  and  a  gen- 
uine moral  purpose.  Wrong  is  invariably 
punished.  If  vice  is  depicted,  it  is  to  disgust, 
not  to  inflame.  The  fundamental  idea  is 
unobjectionable,  however  worthy  of  condem- 
nation we  may  find  the  execution. 


The  English  Drama.  113 

Of  the  master  poet,  Shakespeare,  we  have 
already  spoken.  We  have  now  to  deal  with 
his  contemporaries  and  immediate  successors. 
Many  of  these  whose  names  and  works  are 
obscured  by  the  greater  lights  of  their  time 
we  will  barely  mention.  Our  space  is  too 
limited  to  do  otherwise.  The  more  important 
writers,  embracing  some  dozen  names,  we 
must  more  closely  observe.  One  man,  by  his 
talents,  industry  and  the  judgment  of 
posterity,  has  been  placed  above  the  rest. 

Benjamin,  or,  as  he  preferred  to  be  called, 
Ben  Jonson,  was  born  in  1573,  a  month  after 
his  father's  decease.  His  mother  subse- 
quently re-married.  Her  second  husband  was 
a  bricklayer,  and,  despite  tradition,  there  is 
no  reason  to  believe  was  otherwise  than  kind 
to  Jonson.  The  family  was  poor,  and  lived 
in  London,  near  Charing  Cross.  Jonson 
attended  in  his  childhood  a  private  school  in 
the  neighborhood.  Afterwards  he  was  sent 
to  Westminster  school,  a  friend,  the  famous 
antiquary  Camden,  sustaining  the  expense. 
For  this  Camden  was  repaid  by  Jonson's  life- 
long gratitude.  From  Westminster  it  is  said 
that  our  poet  went  to  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  but  there  is  no  authority  which 
substantiates   the   statement.     Later   in    life 


H4  The  English  Drama. 

both  universities  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  which  he  modestly 
says  was  done  "by  their  favor,  not  my 
studies."  This,  however,  is  not  the  case,  for 
although  his  studies  may  not  have  been  con- 
ducted at  or  under  the  guidance  of  the 
universities,  still  the  unusual  amount  and 
quality  of  learning  he  acquired  fully  entitled 
him  to  the  honors  given.  His  natural  taste 
for  study,  fortified  by  Camden's  good  school- 
ing, enabled  him  to  accomplish  avast  amount 
of  literary  research  and  labor. 

When  Jonson  returned  from  school  to  Lon- 
don, he  was  for  a  short  time  employed  in  his 
stepfather's  trade  of  bricklaying.  This  be- 
ing distasteful  to  him,  he  entered  the  army, 
and  served  in  a  campaign  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. He  seems  to  have  remained  abroad 
only  a  short  time.  Soon  after  his  return  he 
married,  and  began  to  write  for  the  stage. 
His  wife,  he  told  Drummond,  was  "  a  shrew, 
but  honest."  For  five  years  they  lived  apart. 
They  had  several  children,  the  eldest  of  whom 
died  in  1603,  in  his  eighth  year. 

Like  most  of  the  great  dramatists  of  his 
time,  much  that  we  have  concerning  Jonson's 
life  is  untrustworthy,  particularly  that  which 
refers   to  the    period   before    1597.     In    that 


The  English  Drama.  115 


year  he  is  recorded  as  being  a  member  of 
Henslowe's  company.  Acting  and  play-writ- 
ing appears  to  have  been  uphill  work  for  him 
at  first.  In  1598,  if  not  before,  "  Every  Man  in 
His  Humour,"  perhaps  Jonson's  best  comedy, 
was  produced,  and  his  success  assured.  His 
unfortunate  duel  with  Gabriel  Spenser,  in 
1598,  in  which  he  killed  Spenser,  interrupted 
for  a  time  his  brilliant  career.  Jonson  was 
thrown  into  prison,  and  while  there  became  a 
Roman  Catholic,  which  he  remained  for  twelve 
years.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time  he 
underwent  a  second  conversion. 

No  charges  of  insincerity  or  weakness 
should  be  brought  against  Jonson  in  conse- 
quences of  his  changes  of  faith,  for  they  were 
undoubtedly  the  result  of  conviction.  Rather 
by  his  courage  to  follow  his  belief  does  he 
deserve  our  admiration,  and  the  right  to  the 
title  he  was  so  proud  of — an  honest  man. 

From  his  imprisonment  in  consequence  of 
the  duel  with  Spenser,  he  was  released  in  a 
few  months.  Afterward  he  must  have  experi- 
enced sore  poverty,  as  but  little  money,  less 
than  ^200  in  all,  was  brought  him  by  his 
plays.  But  with  the  advent  of  the  Stuarts, 
Jonson's  fortunes  were  bettered.  "  The 
Masque,"  a  species  of  literature  in  which  he 


n6  The  English  Drama. 

has  been  surpassed  by  but  one  author,  gave  a 
new  direction  to  his  talents.  They  intro- 
duced him  to  royal  favor  and  crowned  him 
with  success.  His  collaborator  in  this  do- 
main was  the  celebrated  Inigo  Jones,  a  man 
with  whom  he  afterwards  quarreled. 

In  1616  a  pension  of  one  hundred  marks  was 
conferred  upon  him,  which  Charles  I.  later 
made  as  many  pounds.  Every  first  day  of 
the  new  year  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  a  famous 
patron  of  letters,  sent  Jonson  JQ20  with  which 
to  buy  books.  With  another  patron,  Esme 
Stuart,  Lord  d'Aubigny,  he  dwelt  five  years. 
In  1613  he  went  to  France  as  governor  of  one 
of  the  sons  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  then  a  state- 
prisoner  in  the  Tower.  During  his  sojourn 
in  Paris  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Cardi- 
nal de  Perron  and  took  occasion  in  his  usual 
frank  manner  to  inform  the  Cardinal  concern- 
ing that  gentleman's  translation  of  Virgil, 
that  "  they  were  naught."  In  1618-19  he  made 
a  journey  to  Scotland  and  spent  some  time 
with  the  poet  Drummond,  who  has  left  some 
very  interesting  "  Conversations  "  with  Jon- 
son. 

Our  poet  was  fond  of  wine,  tobacco 
and  good  company.  His  nature  was  com- 
bative.    This    finally    got    him    into    trouble 


The  English  Drama.  117 

with  Dekker  and  Marston,  both  of  whom  had 
been  his  collaborators  at  an  earlier  date. 
They  believed  Jonson  to  have  satirized  them 
and  they  assailed  him.  He  hotly  responded. 
"  The  Poetaster  "  from  Jonson,  the  "  Satiro- 
mastix "  of  Dekker,  are  the  chief  monu- 
ments of  this  dispute.  Reaching  a  climax  in 
the  "  Satiromastix,"  it  ceased  for  some  years. 

In  1625  Jonson  again  began  to  write  for  the 
stage,  but  with  only  mediocre  success.  His 
imprudent  life  brought  in  time  debt  and  dis- 
ease to  trouble  him.  His  later  plays,  several 
of  which  were  written  on  a  sick  bed,  show 
plainly  his  waning  powers  as  a  dramatist. 
An  unfinished  pastoral  drama,  "The  Sad 
Shepherd,"  proves,  however,  that  his  poetic 
faculty  was  unimpaired  to  the  last.  He  died 
August  6th,  1635. 

The  greater  part  of  Jonson's  life  was  spent 
in  poverty,  and  like  many  other  great  men 
when  wealth  came,  he  knew  not  how  to  pre- 
serve it.  His  jovial  life  at  the  Mermaid  Inn, 
and  later  at  the  Devil  Tavern,  is  well  known. 
His  chief  characteristics  were  combativeness, 
frankness  and  self-consciousness.  He  was 
entirely  aware  of  his  own  worth.  Though  he 
wrote  for,  he  despised  the  stage.  It  is  to  be 
feared,  however,  that  his  scorn  was  born  of 


n8  The  English  Drama. 

his  failures  to  please.  He  was  never  a  great 
favorite  as  a  dramatist,  though  some  of  his 
plays  met  with  considerable  success.  He 
presumed  too  much  in  his  faith  in  his  own 
intelligence,  and  the  public's  depraved  taste 
and  ignorance.  Nevertheless,  he  was  a  poet 
of  great  moral  courage  and  intellectual 
power.  He  cared  little  for  the  approbation 
of  the  general  public,  but  was  most  anxious 
for  that  of  the  judicious.  He  had  warm 
friends  and  bitter  enemies.  His  quarrels  with 
his  literary  associates  were  manifold.  In  his 
old  age  he  was  regarded  justly  as  the  chief  of 
the  literary  world,  and  his  death  was  sincerely 
lamented  by  his  friends.  Jonson  was  pos- 
sessed of  a  great  memory  and  remarkable 
learning.  His  works  are  easily  classified  as 
tragedies,  comedies  and  masques  ;  all  of 
which  show  laborious  and  conscientious 
research,  great  vigor,  wonderful  skill  in  con- 
struction and  characterization,  but  are  defi- 
cient in  soul — that  attractive  but  indefinable 
something  we  most  long  for  in  poetry.  It  is 
said  that  Jonson  wrote  all  his  verses  first  in 
prose. 

Neither  of  his  historical  tragedies,  "  Se- 
janus "  and  "  Catiline,"  achieved  great  suc- 
cess.    They   are    too    ponderous,    too    much 


The  English  Drama.  119 

taken  up  with  accuracy  of  det  lis  and  too 
little  given  to  spontaneity.  We  find  an  abun- 
dance of  classical  knowledge,  but  not  that 
delicate  perception  of  character  of  which 
Shakespeare  was  the  master.  Jonson  either 
under  or  overdraws  his  portraits.  He  has  left 
but  two  tragedies,  though  a  third,  "  The  Fall 
of  Mortimer,"  was  sketched. 

From  the  long  list  of  Jonson's  comedies  we 
will  select  his  most  characteristic  and  cele- 
brated ones  :  "  Every  Man  in  His  Humour," 
"  The  Poetaster,"  "  Epicoene,"  "  Volpone,  the 
Fox."  The  first  named  made  his  reputation 
as  a  dramatist.  The  two  last  firmly  main- 
tained it.  The  second  is  his  famous  satirical 
contribution  to  his  dispute  with  Marston  and 
Dekker. 

'■  Every  Man  in  His  Humour"  is  a  play  in 
Jonson's  happiest  vein,  with  a  slight  plot, 
characters  marked  and  real,  the  central  idea 
of  which  is  that  every  human  fault  is  curable 
by  excess.  It  is  a  comedy  of  character,  and 
much  superior,  though  not  so  elaborate  as  its 
companion  piece,  "Every  Man  Out  of  His 
Humour."     It  was  produced  at  least  by  1598. 

"Volpone,  the  Fox,"  printed  in  1607,  is  a 
moral  satire.  It  is  one  of  Jonson's  most 
powerful  and  successful  efforts.     The  picture 


The  English  Drama. 


of  the  depravity  of  his  age  is  no  doubt  a  faith- 
ful, though  revolting  one,  and  while  one  per- 
ceives the  bitter  attack  made  by  the  dramatist 
upon  immorality  and  the  commendable  pur- 
pose that  inspired  the  composition,  yet,  he 
can  not  look  with  pleasure  upon  its  scenes. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  an  admirable  achieve- 
ment. 

"  Epicoene,  or  The  Silent  Woman,"  has 
been  called  Jonson's  most  entertaining 
comedy.  One  might  not  improperly  speak 
of  it  as  a  farce.  An  old  misanthrope,  who 
hates  noise,  marries  what  he  believes  to  be  a 
silent  woman,  but  who,  immediately  after 
the  ceremony,  proves  to  be  a  talkative  crea- 
ture, ultimately  turning  out  to  be  a  boy.  The 
fun  is  brisk,  situations  effective,  and  the 
interest  grows  with  each  succeeding  act,  the 
climax  being  reached  towards  the  close  of 
the  last.  Jonson  was  not  less  scrupulous  in 
his  observance  of  the  unities  of  time  and 
action  here  than  elsewhere. 

Jonson's  comedies  were  imitative  of  the 
Latin  models,  "  Terence  "  and  "  Plautus  ;  " 
satirical  in  tone,  and  written  for  the  purpose 
of  representing  and  correcting  follies  and 
vices.  In  the  "  Alchemist "  he  attacks  a 
whilom  pest  of  society,  and  did  no  little  good 


The  English  Drama,  121 

towards  ridding  the  world  of  it.  "  Bartholo- 
mew Fair "  assails  the  Puritans,  and  is  a 
perfect  dictionary  of  slang.  "  Volpone  " 
belabors  contemporary  vice.  And  so  on. 
Unfortunately  Jonson's  characters  are  at 
times  too  grotesque,  and  too  laboriously 
constructed.  The  author  burdens  himself 
with  science  and  theories,  and  allows  his 
critical  sense  to  mar  his  artistic  feeling.  His 
later  works,  "  The  New  Inn  "  (1629)  and 
"  The  Magnetic  Lady"  (1632),  show  the 
decadence  of  his  powers,  and  were  not 
successful.  "  The  Tale  of  a  Tub  "  (1633)  met 
with  a  somewhat  better  fate. 

As  a  writer  of  masques  no  one  has  been  so 
successful  or  so  prolific  as  Ben  Jonson. 
Accurate  learning,  great  inventive  power, 
and  considerable  originality  are  the  requisites 
for  an  author  of  masques.  All  of  these 
qualities  Jonson  possessed  in  a  large  degree. 
As  regards  acquired  powers,  scholarship, 
he  was  infinitely  better  equipped  than  any 
other  Elizabethan  writer.  His  experience  and 
knowledge  of  man  and  life  was  wide  and 
varied.  His  idea  of  his  task  was  noble.  His 
chief  merit,  conception  and  reproduction  of 
character.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  character, 
not  action,  is  the  essential  thing  in  a  masque, 


The  English  Drama. 


and  we  understand  why  Jonson  excells  in 
this  particular  field.  The  masques  of  "  Black- 
ness," "  The  Satyr  "  and  "  The  Penates  "  are 
three  of  great  beauty,  chosen  at  random 
where  all  are  excellent.  The  first-named  had 
the  honor  of  being  impersonated  by  the 
Queen  and  her  ladies  at  Whitehall,  on 
Twelfth  Night,  1605. 

The  Pastoral  Play,  of  which  dramatic  species 
Jonson  has  left  us  one  exquisite,  though  un- 
finished example,  "  The  Sad  Shepherd,"  is 
the  bucolic  idyl  in  a  dramatic  form.  This 
admits  of  the  introduction  of  both  mytho- 
logical and  allegorical  elements.  It  flourished 
in  Italy  towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, when  Poliziano's  "  Orfeo  "  appeared. 
The  artificial  character  of  the  Pastoral,  per- 
mitting the  display  of  classical  learning  and 
scope  for  the  imagination  and  compliment, 
thinly  veiled  by  allegory,  commended  it  for 
imitation  to  our  Elizabethan  poets,  and  its 
influence  is  perceptible  throughout  the  drama, 
particularly  in  comedy.  The  chief  objection 
to  the  Pastoral  Play  is  its  hovering  between 
artificiality  and  burlesque.  The  entire  con- 
ception of  such  a  combination  of  rustic  sim- 
plicity and  poetical  manners  is  foreign  to  the 
modern  mind.     Of  the  Elizabethan  produc- 


The  English  Drama.  123 

tions  in    this    domain    Fletcher's    "  Faithful 
Shepherdess  "  is  the  most  noteworthy. 

George  Chapman  (1557  or  9-1634)  is  a 
worthy  representative  of  a  certain  class  of 
writers  whose  inventive  powers  are  good,  but 
who  are  too  much  given  to  narration,  to 
rhetoric  and  to  verbiage.  The  greatest 
strength  of  this  class  of  writers  consists  in 
individual  passages  which  are  often  of  great 
beauty.  Chapman's  best  works  are  those 
written  in  conjunction  with  other  authors,  as 
was  then  the  custom.  He  did  not  produce  a 
single  striking  female  character.  Like  Jon- 
son,  his  learning  is  constantly  appearing. 
"  The  Blind  Beggar  of  Alexandria,"  "  Caesar 
and  Pompey,"  "  Byron's  Conspiracy,"  "  Bussy 
D'Ambois,"  and  "The  Revenge  of  Bussy 
D'Ambois,"  are  some  of  his  works.  Marston 
and  Jonson  assisted  him  in  the  composition 
of  "  Eastward  Ho,"  that  endeavor  which 
imprisoned  its  authors  and  for  a  time 
threatened  their  destruction  ;  and  Shirley 
was  a  collaborator  in  the  production  of 
"  Chabot,  Admiral  of  France."  Chapman 
was  a  learned  and  traveled  gentleman,  of 
excellent  character,  and  enjoyed  the  friend- 
ship of  all  his  contemporaries.  He  held  a 
high   position   as   a   dramatist  and  writer  of 


124  The  English  Drama. 

masques,  but  is  even  better  known  as  a  trans- 
lator of  Homer.  He  died  when  nearly 
eighty  years  old. 

Thomas  Dekker  is  probably  more  famous 
as  the  man  who  led  the  attack  against  Jonson, 
in  that  celebrated  quarrel  which  produced 
"  The  Poetaster,"  and  "  The  Satiromastix/' 
than  as  an  author  of  special  merit.  Yet  he 
occupies  a  conspicuous  place  as  a  comic 
dramatist.  Possessed  of  humor,  pathos, 
poetical  ability,  yet  lacking  in  that  vigorous 
imagination,  progressive  spirit  arpl  high 
moral  sense  which  enable  a  writer  to  in- 
fluence his  age.  He  collaborated  so  much 
that  his  own  work  is  with  difficulty  recog- 
nized. Middleton,  Chettle,  Haughton,  Web- 
ster, Massinger,  Ford,  Day,  etc.,  are  writers 
who  assisted  in  his  compositions.  Dekker 
was  born  in  London,  and  there  he  lived, 
worked  and  died.  He  was  a  prolific  and 
hasty  writer,  often  gross.  None  of  his  plays 
are  of  a  high  order,  nor  have  any  claim  to 
great  artistic  excellence.  A  list  of  the  plays 
in  which  he  was  concerned  would  include 
"  The  Shoemaker's  Holiday,"  "  Old  Fortu- 
natus,"  "  Satiromastix,"  "  Patient  Grissil," 
"  The  Roaring  Girl,"  "  The  Witch  of  Edmon- 
ton," etc. 


The  Englisfi  Drama.  125 

Of  John  Marston's,  personal  life  little  is 
known.  It  was  his  play  "  Antonio  and  Mel- 
lida  "  which  Jonson  ridiculed  in  "  The  Poetas- 
ter." Marston  achieved  only  partial  success 
in  his  more  ambitious  works,  as  his  tragedies. 
In  a  less  pretentious  vein  as  in  "  Eastward 
Ho  "  he  is  more  fortunate.  He  was  talented, 
possessed  some  humor,  pathos  and  poetic 
ability,  but  his  individual  works  often  betray 
a  false  tone. 

Thomas  Middleton  (1570-1627),  like  Dek- 
ker,  had  no  hesitancy  in  collaborating  with 
his  fellow  dramatists.  He  produced  works  in 
conjunction  with  Rowley,  Henslowe,  Dekker, 
etc.  He  was  a  university  man.  As  an  author 
he  was  easy,  fluent,  free  from  bombast,  pro- 
lific, a  faithful  reflector  of  the  common,  never 
the  exceptional,  traits  of  the  people  of  his 
time.  Of  these,  and  for  these,  he  wrote,  his 
plays  being  singularly  uninteresting  to  a 
modern  reader.  He  is  inferior  in  brilliancy 
and  depth  of  feeling  to  his  contemporaries, 
but  free  from  the  exaggeration  to  which  many 
of  them  are  so  prone.  There  is  a  pleasing 
rapidity  of  action  in  his  plays,  which  usually 
contain  two  plots  drawn  in  the  customary  in- 
delicate manner.  In  1624  his  best  known 
work,  a  comedy,  "  The  Game  of  Chess,"  was 


126  The  English  Drama. 

produced,  and  after  a  successful  run  of  nine 
days  was  prohibited  by  command  of  the  King. 
The  Spanish  Ambassador  was  offended  at  the 
representation  of  his  sovereign  on  the  stage, 
particularly  the  manner  of  representation,  for 
the  English  people  were  not  at  this  time 
friendly  to  Spain,  and  the  English  dramatist 
had  not  been  uninfluenced  in  his  play  by  this 
fact.  There  was  a  law  by  which  the  represent- 
ing of  a  modern  Christian  king  on  the  stage 
was  forbidden,  so  the  obnoxious  play  was 
prohibited.  Middleton  and  the  players  es- 
caped punishment,  however,  owing  to  the 
public  sentiment  being  so  much  in  concur- 
rence with  that  of  his  play. 

Thomas  Heywood  (1570  circ-1650)  is  the 
typical  play-wright,  but  not  a  great  poet. 
His  plays  were  written  to  be  acted,  rather 
than  read,  and  embrace  every  species.  Tieck 
styles  him  "  the  model  of  a  light  and  rapid 
talent."  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  author 
of  or  collaborator  in  over  two  hundred  plays, 
besides  many  other  works,  as  romances, 
pageants,  and  translations.  He  is  not  a  writer 
of  the  first  rank,  despite  his  astonishing 
productivity.  He  shows  considerable  pathos, 
some  humor,  and  great  skill  in  constructing 
situations  and  startling  climaxes.     It  was  this 


The  English  Drama.  127 


last  quality  that  made  his  plays  successful. 
His  best  plays  are  "  A  Woman  Killed  with 
Kindness  "  and  "  The  Fair  Maid  of  the  West." 

Amongst  thirty  authors  noted  by  Henslowe 
as  receiving  pay  for  plays  between  the  years 
1598-1601,  we  notice  the  names  of  Samuel 
Rowley  and  William  Rowley,  who  were 
collaborators  with  many  prominent  Eliza- 
bethan dramatists.  Also  Wentworth  Smith, 
"A  man  fortunate  in  his  initials";  George 
Wilkins,  Richard  Hathaway,  and  other 
lesser  lights. 

A  number  of  anonymous  plays  belonging 
to  this  period  must  not  escape  mention.  Their 
merit,  however,  is  not  great.  "  The  Life  and 
Death  of  Jack  Straw,"  "  A  Knave  to  Knowe  a 
Knave,"  and  "  Looke  About  You,"  are  three 
worthiest  of  notice. 

Despite  the  popularity  and  greatness  of  the 
drama  of  the  Elizabethan  Theatre,  there  still 
existed  a  set  of  writers  hostile  to  the  English 
dramatic  development,  and  who  opposed  it, 
in  a  feeble  manner,  by  plays  written  with  a 
totally  different  purpose.  Samuel  Daniel 
and  William  Alexander,  Earl  of  Sterling, 
were  chief  amongst  these.  Daniel,  by  his 
prose  and  sonnets,  shows  himself  to  have 
been  a  writer  of  merit,  but  he  was  a  pseudo* 


The  English  Drama. 


classicist,  and  did  not  possess  much  dramatic 
power.  "  Philotas,"  "  Cleopatra  "  and  "The 
Queen's  Arcadia/'  are  some  of  Daniel's  plays. 
Sterling  was  inferior  to  and  even  more 
foreign  than  Daniel  in  his  compositions. 

Also  many  plays  continued  for  some  time 
to  be  written  for  the  Court,  houses  of  nobility 
and  the  Universities.  But  these  finally  disap- 
peared before  the  steady  growth  of  the 
popular  theatre. 

Among  Shakespeare's  contemporaries  there 
are  but  three  whose  popularity  rivaled  his  in 
his  own  time,  or  to  whom  fame  has  assigned 
places  near  him  in  later  days  :  Jonson,  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher.  It  is  even  probable  that 
the  last-named  authors  were  more  admired  in 
the  Elizabethan,  and  undoubtedly  they  were 
in  the  Restoration  period,  than  the  master 
poet.  During  the  commonwealth  it  was  their 
plays,  or  scenes  from  their  plays  that  were 
given  at  fairs,  in  halls,  taverns  and  on  mounte- 
bank's stages.  Some  players  were  giving  sur- 
reptitiously a  tragedy  of  Fletcher's  at  the 
Cock-pit  shortly  before  the  execution  of 
Charles  I.,  when  the  performance  was  inter- 
rupted and  the  players  arrested  for  breach  o 
the  peace.  But  with  the  progress  of  thoiiph* 
and  culture,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  fan  < 


The  English  Drama.  129 

declined.  Gradually  they  came  to  be  classed 
as  inferior  to  Shakespeare,  and  before  the 
eighteenth  century  had  closed  they  were 
being  laid  aside  because  of  the  impurity  and 
grossness  of  which  in  their  own  time  they  had 
deemed  themselves  the  reformers.  As  criti- 
cism became  broader  and  higher,  their  plays 
were  found  lacking  in  what  Schlegel  calls 
"  high  seriousness,"  and  we  would  denomi- 
nate as  true  artistic  feeling.  To-day  there  is 
not  a  single  work  of  these  famous  authors  on 
the  boards.  Indeed,  despite  the  fact  of  their 
past  glory  and  their  unquestioned  merit,  a 
revival  of  their  fame  has  been  long  delayed 
and  scarcely  in  keeping  with  their  deserts. 

Although  the  collaboration  of  dramatists  is 
one  of  the  most  ordinary  phenomena,  especi- 
ally of  the  Elizabethan  period,  there  is  no 
instance  so  famous  in  the  history  of  literature 
as  that  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher.  As  a  rule, 
where  two  or  more  authors  are  concerned  in 
the  production  of  the  same  work,  there  is  a 
consciousness,  often  manifest  evidence  of 
piece-meal  efforts.  This  is  remarkable  by  its 
absence  in  the  plays  of  our  twin  poets.  So 
much  so  that  it  is  with  extreme  difficulty  that 
scholars  have  attempted  to  separate  their 
work,  and  often  the  task  has  been  given  up  as 


130  The  English  Drama. 

hopeless.  The  two  men  were  joined  by  many 
circumstances  ;  gentle  birth,  university  educa- 
tion, nearness  of  age,  similarity  of  thought 
and  taste,  affected  by  the  same  literary  influ- 
ences, the  originality  of  neither  so  great  as  to 
brook  no  interference.  The  chief  differences 
were  merely  external  ones.  Fletcher  being 
urged  ever  to  greater  activity  by  his  poverty, 
Beaumont  never  experiencing  that  unpleasant 
stimulus.  So  that  while  choice  was  for  Beau- 
mont the  only  incentive  to  write,  Fletcher 
was  urged,  no  doubt,  as  strenuously  by  neces- 
sity. Yet,  there  was  never  a  greater  har- 
mony of  thought  between  two  men.  In  the 
selection  and  treatment  of  a  subject  there 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  difference,  and 
it  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  they  should 
come  to  be  regarded  as  one  author.  It  is 
remarkable  that  when  working  alone  Fletcher 
shows  no  peculiarities  not  to  be  found  in  his 
joint  compositions.  He  seems  neither  to 
have  been  impeded  nor  assisted,  as  regards 
meritorious  work,  by  the  collaboration  of 
Beaumont. 

John  Fletcher  was  several  years  older 
than  his  co-laborer.  He  was  the  younger  son 
of  a  large  family.  His  father  had  held  suc- 
cessively the  positions  of  President  of  Bene't 


The  English  Drama.  131 

(now  Corpus  Christi)  College,  Cambridge  ; 
minister  of  Rye,  in  Sussex,  where  John  was 
born,  December,  1579  ;  Dean  of  Peterborough, 
in  which  capacity  he  attended  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots,  in  Fotheringay  Castle,  and  en- 
deavored to  persuade  her  to  recant  the 
Catholic  faith  ;  Bishop  of  Bristol  and  Bishop 
of  London.  While  holding  the  last-named 
position  he  died,  leaving  a  large  family  and  a 
heavy  debt. 

Of  John  Fletcher's  early  life  little  has  been 
ascertained.  Being  a  younger  son  his  pros- 
pects could  not  have  been  bright,  and  at  his 
father's  death  his  inheritance  was  probably 
confined  to  an  equal  half  of  the  Bishop's 
library.  This  was  an  undoubted  recognition 
of  the  literary  tastes  Fletcher  had  early  dis- 
played, and  which  he  inherited,  as  his  father, 
uncle  and  cousins,  Phineas  and  Giles,  were  all 
men  of  letters.  The  two  last  particularly 
having  won  honorable  places  for  themselves 
in  English  literature.  In  1591,  and  again  in 
1593,  we  have  evidence  showing  him  to  have 
been  at  Bene't  College,  Cambridge.  From 
that  time,  until  we  find  him  connected  with 
the  London  stage,  nothing  is  known  of  his 
proceedings.  His  first  plays,  written  in  con- 
junction with  Beaumont,  were  not  successful. 


132  The  English  Drama. 

"  Philaster,"  produced  in  1608-9,  was>  how- 
ever, and  from  that  time  neither  Beaumont 
nor  Fletcher  had  just  cause  to  complain  of 
the  lack  of  popular  approval.  After  Beau- 
mont's death,  in  1616,  Fletcher  continued  to 
write  for  the  stage,  often  associating  himself 
with  other  dramatists,  as  Massinger,  William 
Rowley  and  others.  He  was  admired  and 
beloved  by  his  fellows,  and  is  said  to  have 
ended  his  days  without  an  enemy.  He  was 
witty,  modest,  disliked  flattery,  but  honestly 
loved  well-earned  applause.  He  was  a  gen- 
tleman by  birth,  breeding  and  conduct.  He 
died  August,  1625,  a  victim  of  the  plague, 
and  was  buried  at  St.  Saviours,  Southwark, 
where,  unfortunately,  no  trace  has  been  left 
of  his  grave. 

Francis  Beaumont  was  born  at  Grace- 
Dieu,  in  Leicestershire,  the  home  of  his  ances- 
tors. His  family  was  ancient  and  his  father 
was  a  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas.  His 
elder  brother,  John,  also  won  some  reputation 
as  a  poet.  Francis,  after  a  short  residence  at 
Broadgates  Hall,  Oxford,  entered  the  Inner 
Temple  in  1600,  with  which  society  he  pre- 
served his  connections,  though  he  soon  turned 
his  attentions  from  law  to  literature.  He  be- 
came acquainted  with  Ben  Jonson,  and  their 


The  English  Drama.     t  133 

friendship  was  life-long.  A  stronger  intimacy- 
was  presently  formed,  however,  with  John 
Fletcher,  with  whom  his  name  will  be  forever 
linked.  Beaumont  does  not  seem  to  have 
written  anything  alone,  save  a  few  poems, 
which  are  not  remarkable,  except  as  proofs  of 
his  having  continued  a  member  of  the  society 
into  which  he  was  born.  Brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  stage  by  Jonson  and  Fletcher,  he 
must  have  imbibed  a  warm  love  for  it,  as 
there  can  be  no  other  reason  for  the  habits  of 
life  ascribed  by  tradition  to  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  as  the  former  inherited  a  part  of  his 
elder  brother's  property  in  1606,  and  was 
never  in  want.  In  1613  he  married  a  lady  of 
birth  and  fortune,  Ursula  Isley,  which  event 
must  have  changed  his  mode  of  life,  and  inter- 
fered somewhat  with  his  relations  to  Fletcher. 
Nevertheless  they  continued  to  collaborate 
until  Beaumont's  death  in  1616,  which  event 
was  sincerely  mourned  by  many  contempora- 
ries. As  an  author  Beaumont  is  rated  as  in- 
ferior to  Fletcher  in  genius,  as  he  certainly 
was  in  productivity.  For  a  long  time  the  two 
men  when  at  work  on  a  play,  are  said  to  have 
been  associated  in  the  most  intimate  personal 
intercourse.  They  lived  together  not  far 
from     the    play-house,    and    had    everything 


134  The  English  Drama. 

in  common,  "even  the  same  clothes  and 
cloakes.." 

Fletcher's  plays  fall  naturally  into  three 
classes,  (i)  those  written  in  conjunction  with 
Beaumont  ;  (2)  those  written  alone  ;  (3)  those 
written  with  the  assistance  of  other  drama- 
tists. 

The  first  joint  works  of  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  "  The  Woman  Hater  "  and  "  Thierry 
and  Theodoret,"  were  failures,  as  we  have 
before  remarked.  In  1608,  however,  "  Phil- 
aster  "  was  produced,  which  was  exceedingly 
popular.  This  play  may  be  taken  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  colabor  of  our  two  poets. 
"  Philaster  "  contains  much  pathos  and 
beauty  of  language,  characters  and  situations. 
There  is  a  suggestion  of  "  Hamlet  "  in  the 
hero  at  first,  and  a  striking  resemblance  to 
Shakespeare's  Viola  in  "  Euphrasia-Bellario," 
though  the  latter  is  not  so  happy  in  her 
ultimate  fate  as  the  heroine  of  "  Twelfth 
Night."  There  is  some  exquisite  poetry  in 
this  piece,  which  might  be  called  a  tragi- 
comedy. Among  other  successful  efforts  may 
be  named  the  mock-heroic  drama,  ':The 
Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle  "  ;  the  vigorous 
and  interesting  "  Knight  of  Malta,"  and  that 
source  of  much  dispute  as  to  merit,  "  The 


The  English  Drama.  135 

Maid's  Tragedy."  The  last-named  was 
prohibited  under  Charles  II.,  but  re-written 
by  Sheridan  Knowles,  was  acted,  as  late  as 
1837,  by  the  tragedian  Macready.  It  contains 
two  central  figures,  Evadne,  a  terrible  char- 
acter, and  Melanthius,  a  noble  one.  Never- 
theless, the  play  is  loathsome  to  modern 
tastes. 

Of  the  plays  assigned  to  Fletcher  alone, 
his  pastoral  drama,  "  The  Faithful  Shep- 
herdess "  (1610),  and  the  comedy  "  The 
Woman's  Prize,  or  The  Tamer  Tamed " 
(1625),  deserve  special  mention.  The  former 
on  account  of  its  being  the  highest  achieve- 
ment in  the  pastoral  drama  in  our  literature. 
Notwithstanding  the  high  estimation  in  which 
it  is  held,  criticism  does  not  deem  it  to  have 
escaped  the  usual  dangers  attendant  on  this 
species,  sameness  and  artificiality.  The 
beauties  are  those  of  detail  and  diction. 
"  The  Woman's  Prize,  or  The  Tamer  Tamed," 
is  to  be  remarked  as  an  attempt  in  a  direction 
seldom  ventured  by  a  play-wright.  Fletcher's 
object  was  to  use,  and,  if  possible,  surpass 
the  success  of  Shakespeare's  "  Taming  of  the 
Shrew,"  by  writing  a  companion  piece,  or 
epilogue,  to  that  famous  comedy.  His  effort 
was,  for  the  time  being,  successful.     Indeed, 


136  The  English  Drama. 

it  is  reported  that  Shakespeare's  play  on  being 
given  at  Court  was  "  likt,"  but  Fletcher's, 
given  five  days  afterwards,  was  "  very  well 
likt."  Undoubtedly  it  is  a  clever  comedy, 
though  far  inferior  to  its  predecessor. 

Amongst  the  group  of  plays,  assigned  as 
the  result  of  the  co-labor  of  Fletcher  and 
contemporaries  other  than  Beaumont,  are 
"  The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen,"  a  portion  of 
which  has  been  attributed  by  some  critics  to 
Shakespeare  ;  "  Love's  Pilgrimage,"  a  joint 
work  with  Shirley  ;  "  The  Queen  of  Corinth," 
in  which  Massinger's  hand  is  traced,  and 
"  The  Bloody  Brother,"  the  joint  author  of 
which  is  unknown.  In  this  last-named  play 
there  are  passages  and  whole  scenes  of  a 
most  beautiful  and  highly  developed  style, 
but,  unfortunately,  a  large  part  is  inartistic, 
and  the  working  out  of  the  plot  unsatis- 
factory. There  is  a  noticeable  and  lamentable  - 
unevenness  in  this  tragedy,  whose  opening  is 
so  promising  and  the  close  of  which  is  so 
disappointing.  The  character  of  the  mother, 
from  the  commanding  position  she  at  first 
assumes,  sinks  into  insignificance  as  the  play 
progresses. 

The  chief  facts  to  be  noted  in  a  study  of 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  some  of  which  they 


The  English  Drama.  137 

have    in    common    with    other    Elizabethan 
dramatists,  are  : 

(1)  Their  remarkable  productivity.  Their 
works  comprise  fifty-two  plays. 

(2)  The  advantages  they  derived  from  their 
birth,  breeding,  education,  friends,  and  the 
time  at  which  they  lived. 

(3)  The  unusually  wide  range  of  subjects 
handled,  which  undoubtedly  was  the  result 
of  their  education  that  had  familiarized  them 
with  history,  philosophy,  classic  and  modern 
literature. 

(4)  Their  exceeding  popularity,  which  was 
in  part  due  to  intrinsic  merit,  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  they  adapted  themselves  to  the 
tastes  and  tendencies  of  their  age,  unfor- 
tunately not  a  great  one.  James  I.  did  not 
inspire  the  chivalric  loyalty  and  noble  senti- 
ments which  Elizabeth  had  done.  What  was 
impulsively  consecrated  to  her  was  granted 
indifferently,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  to 
him.  The  poets,  particularly  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  everywhere  express  an  unshaken 
faith  in  "  the  divine  right  of  kings." 

(5)  Great  moral  defects  and  grossness,  a 
most  lamentable  stain  on  their  poetic  renown, 
are  visible  in  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  their  works. 
They  seem  to  have  no  conception  of  feminine 


138  The  English  Drama. 

purity.  This  immorality  is  the  more  griev- 
ous, since  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  were  un- 
conscious of  it  and  believed  themselves  to  be 
reformers.  It  is  a  manifest  sign  of  the 
depravity  of  the  times. 

(6)  As  regards  their  literary  qualities  we 
find  their  construction  to  be  light,  at  times 
skillful  ;  clever  in  adapting  ;  happy  in  their 
characterization  within  certain  limits  ;  ex- 
celling in  the  brilliancy  and  fluency  of  their 
poetry  and  in  their  pathos  ;  as  a  rule  free 
from  bombast  ;  lacking  in  tragic  and  moral 
elevation  ;  sometimes  extravagant  in  their 
conceptions.  Fletcher  was  the  superior  artist 
in  versification,  his  peculiarity  being  sweet- 
ness rather  than  firmness. 

(7)  That  their  plays  are  wonderfully  bril- 
liant and  theatrical,  but  superficial,  un- 
natural, corrupt  and  unsatisfactory. 

We  have  now  to  speak  of  a  genius  of  sur- 
passing and  original,  though  not  versatile 
powers,  John  Webster.  Little  has  been  as- 
certained of  his  life,  nor  is  it  known  when  he 
died.  He  began  his  career  as  a  dramatist  in 
1601,  when  Henslowe  mentions  a  play  by 
Webster,  entitled  "  The  Gwisse."  He  seems 
to  have  co-operated  with  Dekker,  Marston, 
Ford,    Rowley,   etc.,  with   all   of   whom    he 


The  English  Drama.  139 

appears  to  have  been  on  the  best  of  terms. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  few  of  the  plays 
of  which  he  was  the  sole  author  have  been 
preserved.  "  The  Duchess  of  Malfi,"  a  su- 
perb, though  terrible  tragedy,  is  generally 
conceded  to  be  his  masterpiece.  Other 
notable  plays  in  which  Webster  was  con- 
cerned are  "  Vittoria  Corombona,  or,  The 
White  Devil,"  and  "  Appius  and  Virginia." 

The  characteristics  of  this  remarkable, 
genius  are  : 

(1)  His  apparent  disposition  and  extraor- 
dinary ability  to  accumulate  murders,  suicides 
and  executions,  thus  showing  a  love  for  the 
horrible. 

(2)  His  elaborate  investigation  of  the  ter- 
rible side  of  human  nature,  and  of  bloody 
deeds. 

(3)  Possessed  of  fine  poetic  feeling,  and 
capable  of  forming  strong  situations,  but 
lacking  a  high  moral  purpose  and  ability  to 
construct. 

(4)  His  characters  are  possible,  but  ab- 
normal. 

Taiue  says,  "  Webster  is  a  sombre  man 
whose  thoughts  seem  incessantly  to  be  haunt- 
ing tombs  and  charnel  houses.  .  .  No  one  has 
equaled  him  in  creating  desperate  characters, 


140  The  English  Drama. 

utter  wretches,  bitter  misanthropes,  in  black- 
ening and  blaspheming  human  life,  in  depict- 
ing the  shameless  depravity  and  refined  fero- 
city of  Italian  manners." 

There  are  few  names  in  our  dramatic  liter- 
ature that  are  entitled  to,  or  that  receive  more 
respect,  than  that  of  Philip  Massinger,  one  of 
the  secondary  stars  of  the  later  Elizabethan 
drama.  He  was  born  at  Salisbury  in  1584, 
and  was  the  son  of  a  gentleman  attached  to 
the  service  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  for 
whose  family  he  ever  entertained  the  warm- 
est gratitude.  He  was  university  bred,  a 
Roman  Catholic  of  unusual  religious  piety, 
moderate  and,  liberal  in  political  views  and  a 
man  of  considerable  reading.  He  was  often 
in  the  extremest  poverty  during  his  London 
career,  and  was  twice  obliged  to  appeal  for 
monetary  aid.  A  number  of  Massinger's 
plays  fell  victim  to  "  Warburton's  Cook," 
that  is,  Somerest  Herald's  cook,  who  used  his 
collection  of  MSS.  as  coverings  for  her  pastry. 
Still  a  considerable  portion  of  Massinger's 
works  have  been  saved,  carefully  edited,  and 
exhaustively  criticised.  "  The  Virgin  Martyr  " 
(a  joint  work),  "  The  Duke  of  Milan,"  "  The 
Picture,"  "  The  City  Madam,"  "  The  Bond- 
man "  (one  of  Massinger's  best  and  most  pop- 


The  English  Drama.  141 

ular  efforts),  "  The  Roman  Actor  "  (a  meri- 
torious drama  and  its  author's  favorite),  and 
"  The  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  are  his 
most  celebrated  plays.  The  last-named  is 
acknowledged,  I  believe,  by  all  critics  to  be 
his  master-piece  ;  certainly  it  has  been  the 
most  popular  and  enduring. 

This  unvarying  success  has  been  attributed, 
doubtless  with  considerable  truth,  to  the 
remarkable  central  character,  Sir  Giles  Over- 
reach, and  the  strong  didactic  element 
clothed  in  striking  rhetoric.  Yet,  despite  this 
effective  combination  of  attractive  theatrical 
elements,  the  moral  tone  and  noble  purpose 
of  the  play  should  have  given  it  success,  and 
certainly  do  give  it  a  high  place  in  the  dra- 
matic literature  of  the  day.  The  play  is 
original  in  construction,  and  in  the  central 
figure,  while  the  others  are  of  sufficient  dig- 
nity and  individuality  to  deserve  praise.  Sir 
Giles  Overreach  is  a  picture  of  incarnate 
evil.  His  nature  is  revealed  by  effective  and 
contrasting  situations.  He  is  depicted  with 
unusual  dramatic  force,  and  his  punishment 
is  commensurate  with  his  guilt.  It  is  the 
portrait  of  a  grasping,  grinding,  ambitious, 
moneyed  man  of  the  world.  Massinger 
delights   in    depicting   the   conflict   between 


142  The  English  Drama. 

right  and  wrong,  lust  and  chastity  ;  the  forti- 
tude bestowed  by  conviction  and  conscience  ; 
the  self-punishment  of  crime  ;  woman's  pure 
self-sacrifice ;  the  nobility  of  self-control. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  his  eloquent  and  pleas- 
ing verse,  his  skill  in  the  choice  and  execution 
of  his  work,  he  has  many  faults.  Ward  says, 
his  characters  seem  labeled,  and  there  is  no 
mistaking  them  as  dramatis  personce,  though 
we  have  some  difficulty  in  understanding 
them  as  human  beings.  Nevertheless,  Mas- 
singer's  plays  form  an  honorable  monument 
to  an  honorable  dramatist. 

Nathaniel  Field  (1590-1640)  was  a  com- 
panion of  Massinger's  in  his  poverty.  He 
was  a  good  actor,  and  as  a  dramatist  shows  a 
curious  combination  of  skill  and  recklessness, 
which  fact  his  checquered  career  may  explain. 
"  A  Woman  is  a  Weather-cock,"  and  "Amends 
for  Ladies,"  are  his  two  extant  plays. 

John  Ford  (i586-i64ocirc.)  was  the  second 
son  of  a  Devonshire  gentleman  of  position. 
Ford's  first  appearance  as  an  author  was  made 
in  1616  with  the  elegiac  poem,  "  Fame's  Memo- 
rial." Shortly  afterwards  he  commenced  his 
career  as  a  dramatist,  and  during  it  enjoyed 
the  patronage  of  several  men  of  rank  and 
wealth.     The  earliest  of  his  published  plays 


The  English  Drama.  143 

was  "The  Lover's  Melancholy"  (1629).  Of 
his  other  works,  "The  Witch  of  Edmonton," 
in  which  Dekker  and  William  Rowley  were 
also  concerned,  we  have  before  mentioned  ; 
"  The  Broken  Heart "  and  "  Perkin  War- 
beck  "  deserve  notice.  The  last-named  is  a 
chronicle  history  of  great  merit,  and  is  one  of 
the  few  that  bear  comparison  with  the  Shakes- 
peare series.  Ford  occupies  an  entirely  dis- 
tinct place  amongst  our  dramatists.  He  is 
strangely  devoid  of  humor.  Gifford  speaks 
of  his  comedians  in  one  play  as  a  "  despic- 
able set  of  buffoons."  They  are  invariably 
gross,  brutal  and  contemptible.  An  excep- 
tion should  be  made  for  the  single  character 
of  John-a-Water,  the  truism-loving  Mayor 
of  Cork,  in  "Perkin  Warbeck."  Ford's  re- 
deeming qualities  are  his  admirable  verse, 
sweet,  fluent  and  strong  ;  his  lyrical  gifts  ;  his 
unsurpassed  tenderness  ;  his  magical  changes 
from  raging  passion  to  delicate  touches  of 
thrilling  sweetness  ;  his  ability  to  portray  the 
depths  of  passion,  sorrow  and  despair.  But 
once  again  we  are  called  upon  to  regret  that 
such  admirable  powers  should  have  been 
expended  upon  such  disgusting  materials. 
His  plots  and  characters  are  revolting.  It 
was    such    writers    as    Ford    that    by    their 


144  The  English  Dra7tia. 

very    genius    hastened     the    decay    of     the 
drama. 

James  Shirley  (1596-1666)  was  a  Londoner, 
and  best  known,  perhaps,  as  the  victim  of 
Dryden's  satire.  He  was  a  university  man, 
and  was  intended  for  the  ministry,  but 
abandoned  it  on  becoming  a  Catholic  convert. 
Enjoyed  the  patronage  of  Charles  I.  and 
members  of  the  nobility.  The  Revolution 
closed  his  dramatic  career,  and  threw  him 
for  a  time  on  the  bounty  of  friends.  He 
became  a  teacher,  and  finally  died,  in  1666, 
from  exposure,  in  consequence  of  the  Great 
Fire  of  London,  which  drove  him  from  the 
city.  Shirley  has  left  us  a  larger  number  of 
plays  than  any  other  dramatist  of  this  time, 
save  Shakespeare,  thirty-three  in  all,  the 
greater  part  of  which  are  romantic  comedies. 
"  The  Traitor,"  "  The  Wedding,"  "  The  Young 
Admiral,"  and  "  The  Royal  Master,"  are  some 
of  his  best-known  plays.  Shirley's  charac- 
teristics as  an  author  are  : 

(1)  Fertility  and  originality. 

(2)  The  condensation  of  his  comedy  interest 
into  a  single  scene,  which  enabled  it  to  be 
given  separately,  if  desired,  as  a  droll  or 
farce. 

(3)  Ability  to  suit  the  tastes  of  his  audience. 

/ 
/  I. 


The  English  Drama.  145 

t 

(4)  His  serious  work  superior  to  his  lighter 
efforts. 

(5)  Numerous  passages  of  poetic  and 
picturesque  beauty. 

(6)  Grossness  of  his  works,  yet  an  honest, 
moral  purpose  present.  Vice  never  repre- 
sented as  enjoying  an  easy  victory. 

The  minor  dramatists  of  this  period  who 
contributed,  each  after  his  kind,  to  the 
dramatic  literature,  are  not  particularly  note- 
worthy, and  it  will  be  sufficient,  in  considera- 
tion of  our  limited  space,  to  enumerate  them  : 
Richard  Brome,  Thomas  Randolph,  William 
Cartwright,  Jasper  Mayne,  Thomas  May, 
Sir  John  Suckling,  Shakerly  Marmion, 
Sir  John  Denham,  William  Habington, 
Henry  Glapthorne,  Robert  Tailor,  Lodo- 
wick  Barry*,  Robert  Davenport,  Lewis 
Machin,  Thomas  Rawlins,  Nathaniel  Rich- 
ards, Richard  Lovelace,  George  Ruggle, 
etc.,  etc. 

One  more  illustrious  name  remains  to  be 
mentioned.  John  Milton  was  a  man  whose 
contributions  to  the  drama  were  limited  to 
three  works,  and  one  of  these  finds  its  sole 
home  in  the  library.  Nevertheless,  by  the 
greatness  of  these  productions,  aside  from 
what  he  has  in  other  fields  of  letters  accom- 


146  The  English  Drama. 


plished,  he  has  enriched  considerably  the 
English  literature,  and  also  won  for  himself 
a  worthy  place  amongst  dramatists.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  relate  the  life  and  deeds  of 
this  great  epic  poet.  His  energy,  profound 
scholarship,  honorable  career,  are  too  well 
known  to  demand  more  than  mention  here. 
In  1634  he  produced  the  masques,  "  The 
Arcades  "  and  "  Comus,"  the  latter  of  which 
stands  unapproached  in  this  realm  of  letters. 
It  was  at  once  the  climax  and  the  termina- 
tion of  the  masque.  Nothing  worthy  of  the 
name  ever  followed  it. 

Milton  was  never  connected  directly  with 
the  drama  of  his  day.  He  was  a  Puritan, 
and,  though  a  liberal  one,  yet  his  life  and 
manner  of  thought  made  such  a  connection 
impossible.  Nevertheless,  he  is  said  to  have 
made  one  hundred  and  two  schemes  of 
dramatic  subjects  on  classic  models  ;  sixty 
on  scriptural  topics,  thirty-three  on  British 
history  and  five  on  Scottish  history.  He 
has  left  but  one  play,  however,  "Samson 
Agonistes  "  (1677). 

This  chronologically  belongs  to  the  time  of 
the  Restoration,  but  its  spirit  is  Elizabethan. 
Both  "  Comus"  and  "  Samson "  reflect  the 
moral  indignation  with   which  the  represen- 


The  English  Drama,  147 

tative  of  Puritanism  regarded  the  social 
degradation.  "  Samson  Agonistes  "  was  never 
intended  for  the  stage.  There  is  no  division 
into  acts  and  scenes,  and  the  catastrophe  is 
announced  by  a  messenger.  A  chorus  is 
made  use  of.  It  is  needless  to  speak  of  the 
great  beauty  of  the  poetry. 

In  the  brief  summary  we  have  made  we 
have  glanced,  we  had  not  time  for  more,  at 
the  lives,  works  and  literary  peculiarities  of 
the  men  whose  names  fill  the  brightest  period 
of  our  literature,  the  Elizabethan.  But  a 
treatise  on  any  age  that  looks  only  upon  the 
great  individuals  who  are  its  exponents  must 
naturally  be  deficient.  There  is  another 
view,  a  general  one,  which  remains  to  be 
taken  before  our  work  approaches  comple- 
tion. In  Shakespeare  we  have  beheld  the 
flower  of  this  remarkable  age.  In  his  con- 
temporaries and  successors  we  perceive  the 
seeds  and  observe  the  growth  of  the  weed, 
corruption,  that  foretells  decline.  But  we 
must  not  suppose  a  wide  or  stated  interval  to 
exist  between  the  two.  The  flower  and  weed 
grew  side  by  side.  As  the  promising  work 
of  Greene,  Peele  and  Marlowe  was  contem- 
poraneous with  Shakespeare's  early  en- 
deavors, so  was  the  hot-house  plant  of  Beau- 


148  The  English  Drama. 


mont  and  Fletcher's  genius  with  his  latei 
ones.  Undoubtedly  both  Shakespeare  and 
Jonson  exerted  a  wide  influence  on  their  fel- 
lows, but  their  successors  were  not  as  they 
master-dramatists,  and  imitative  seldom 
reaches  the  height  attained  by  original* 
genius.  With  the  growth  of  Puritanism  the 
popularity  of  the  theatre  naturally  waned. 
Supported  by  the  Royalists  alone  its  fortunes 
fluctuated  with  those  of  its  patrons,  and  its 
manners  reflected  the  manners  of  its  patrons. 
The  early  Elizabethan  drama  mirrors  the 
vigor,  chivalry  and  manliness  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan court.  The  later  period,  belonging 
ft©  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  as 
.  J  faithfully  represent  the  effeminacy,  immor- 
|  ality  and  corruption  of  those  monarchs' 
I  reigns.  The  national  life  had  ceased  to  be 
great  and  offered  no  such  powerful  stimulus 
to  great  efforts  as  did  Elizabeth's  England. 
The  stirring  continental  events,  politics  and 
religion,  were  forbidden  subjects  to  the  dra- 
matist. Deprived  of  his  choicest  materials 
and  compelled  to  appeal  to  but  half  the  pub- 
lic, it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  ideas 
and  sentiments  of  the"  play-wright  became 
warped  and  corrupted  ;  that  he  should  ac- 
cept and  promulgate  the  doctrine  of  "  divine 


The  English  Drama.  149 

right  of  kings,"  that  he  should  look  leniently 
on  the  faults  of  his  patrons  and  become  in- 
fused with  their  loose  morality.  Exclusive 
ness,  extravagance,  coarseness,  love  of  drink- 
ing, gaming  and  dress,  were  Royalistic 
characteristics  of  that  time.  These,  as  a  re- 
sult, permeate  the  drama.  The  luxuries  and 
refinements  of  life  grew  more  numerous. 
Fierceness  abated  and  outward  manners 
visibly  improved,  but  secret  vice  and  super- 
stition prevailed  to  an  astonishing  extent. 

The  stage  came  to  be  restricted  in  various 
ways.  Besides  political  and  religious  allu- 
sions being  prohibited,  the  "  jesting  and  pro- 
fane "  use  of  sacred  names  was  forbidden  ;  no 
modern  Christian  king  was  permitted  to  be 
represented.  Members  of  the  nobility  might 
no  longer  authorize  plays  in  any  part  of  the 
kingdom,  nor  companies  remain  more  than 
fourteen  days  in  any  one  place,  excepting 
London.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  most,  if  not 
all,  of  these  restrictions,  were  repeatedly  disre- 
garded and  the  infringements  were  not  always 
punished. 

The  hostility  of  the  Puritans  to  the  theatre 
was  intense.  Many  of  their  objections  were 
well  founded,  but  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
the  English  nature  demands  the  existence  of 


150  The  English  Drama. 


the  drama,  they  desired  not  to  reform  and  put 
to  its  best  uses  the  stage,  but  to  annihilate  it. 
As  long  as  the  Court  and  nobility  upheld  it, 
this  could  not  be  done,  but  the  desire  found 
its  expression  in  a  strong  anti-theatrical  liter- 
ature. 

In  1625  "  A  Short  Treatise  of  Stage  Playes  " 
was  presented  to  the  first  Parliament  of 
Charles  I.,  requesting  the  closing  of  the 
theatres.  Nothing  was  done,  however,  save 
to  forbid  Sunday  performances.  In  1632 
Puritan  enmity  issued  its  most  famous  literary 
effort  against  the  stage.  "  Histriomastix,  the 
Players  Scourge  or  Actors  Tragedic,"  by 
William  Prynne.  This  was  the  result  of 
seven  years'  labor,  and  shows  remarkable 
learning  and  enthusiasm.  It  is  a  book  of 
more  than  a  thousand  closely  printed  pages, 
and  attacks  the  stage  at  every  point.  Prynne 
condemns  the  theatre,  the  drama,  the  audi- 
ences, the  players  and  especially  assails  a 
company  in  which  women  had  for  the  first 
time  taken  part.  Shortly  before  the  appear- 
ance of  the  "  Histriomastix  "  the  Queen  and 
her  ladies  had  enacted  a  pastoral  drama  at 
Whitehall,  and  as  the  Court  often  com- 
posed the  audience  before  which  a  favorite 
play    was   given,    Prynne's    attack    involved 


The  English  Drama.  151 

the  honor  of  the  royal  family  as  well  as  the 
drama. 

The  unfortunate  author  was  summoned 
before  the  High  Commission  Court  and  Star 
Chamber.  His  book  was  condemned  to  be 
burnt  and  he  to  be  expelled  from  the  Bar  and 
his  Inn,  to  stand  in  the  pillory,  to  lose  both 
ears,  to  pay  a  fine  of  ^5000  to  the  King,  and 
to  be  perpetually  imprisoned. 

Prynne's  punishment  we  cannot  but  regard 
as  tyranical,  and  serving  only  to  make  him  a 
martyr  in  the  eyes  of  the  Puritans.  His  book 
really  had  a  good  effect  on  the  drama,  as  it 
served  to  check  its  excesses.  In  1639-40  the 
serious  political  condition  darkened  the 
dramatic  world  as  well.  In  1641  the  plague 
broke  out,  and  temporarily  closed  the 
theatres.  Christmas,  1641,  saw  but  one  play 
given  at  Court,  and  neither  the  King  nor 
Oueen  was  present  at  that.  The  Master  of 
the  Revels  closes  his  register  in  June,  1642, 
with  the  entry  of  a  play  entitled  "  The  Irish 
Rebellion,"  and  "  here,"  he  adds,  "ended  my 
allowance  of  plays,  for  the  war  began  in 
August,  1642."  On  the  2d  of  September 
the  ordinance  of  the  Lords  and  Commons 
commanded  "  that  while  these  sad  causes  and 
set  times  of  humiliation  do  continue,  public 


152  The  English  Drama, 

stage  plays  shall  cease?  and  be  forborne." 
The  theatres  remained  closed  till  the  Restora- 
tion. 

And  so  ends  the  halt  century  contain- 
ing the  richest  literary  products  and  the 
most  marvellous  assemblyt  of  genius  of  our 
language.  Few  fields  were  left  unexplored  ; 
few  types  untried.  Yet  after  Shakespeare's 
works  nearly  all  is  retrogressive.  Jonson  and 
Ford  failed  to  reach  the  highest  level  in 
tragedy.  Heywood  does  not  uphold  the 
Chronicle  History.  The  numerous  writers  of 
tragi-comedy,  that  is  the  romantic  tragedy, 
did  not  in  that  they  lose  sight  of  the  highest 
moral  ideals,  attain  the  lasting  success  which 
they  might  have  done. 

The  comedy  alone  progresses— progresses, 
but  not  improves.  Throughout  the  works  of 
Marston,  Webster,  Fletcher,  Ford,  Shirley 
and  others,  there  is  a  sameness  that  makes 
these  writers,  despite  their  genius,  wearisome 
to  the  ordinary  reader.  However  various  the 
themes  and  different  the  personality  of  the 
authors,  this  impression  is  not  to  be  escaped. 
This  is,  no  doubt,  produced  by  the  uniform 
lack  of  moderation  displayed.  All  passions 
and  emotions  are  depicted  in  excess,  and  the 
result  on  the  reader  is  to  produce  indifference 


The  English  Drama.  153 

and  fatigue.  Yet  we  cannot  disregard  the 
sudden  and  delicate^  touches  of  Ford  and 
Webster,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  pathos, 
Massinger's  dignified  sentiment  and  Shirley's 
poetical  illustration,  which  lighten  the  other- 
wise monotonous  li  erary  vein. 

It  is  in  the  verse  that  we  find  the  most  pro- 
nounced individuality  of  the  prominent  writers 
in  the  first  part  of  this  period.  In  the  latter 
part  this  is  less  noticeable,  for  the  lesser  poets 
became  careless  and  characterless  in  their 
writing  as  they  were  in  their  lives.  Their 
prose  also  deserves  mention  as  standing  so 
entirely  separate  from  the  political,  religious 
and  oratorical  prose  of  the  time.  This  was 
due,  of  course,  to  obvious  reasons.  The  stage 
had  to  do  with  conversation  not  disserta- 
tions. One  thing  more  must  not  be  forgotten, 
the  inter -dependence  of  the  Elizabethan 
poets.  Not  alone,  but  as  influencing  and 
being  influenced  by  one  another,  must  they 
be  studied  for  an  impartial  judgment  of  then 
achievements  and  worth. 


154  The  English  Drama. 


V. 

FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  (1660-1800). 

Although  the  theatres  in  England  were 
closed  by  act  of  Parliament  in  August,  1642, 
and  had  fallen  into  disrepute  and  met  with 
neglect  before  this,  such  was  the  vitality  of 
the  drama  that  it  never  wholly  ceased  to  be 
represented,  but  in  one  form  or  another 
bridged  over  the  period  of  the  Protectorate 
and  survived  all  opposition.  In  defiance  of 
ordinances,  performances  were  given  clandes- 
tinely, particularly  at  the  homes  of  the  royal- 
ist nobility,  and  sometimes  they  were  given 
openly,  when  they  were  suppressed  by  the 
means  of  the  soldiery. 

Though  plays  were  forbidden  to  be  per- 
formed, there  was  no  law  to  prevent  their 
being  published.  In  consequence  of  this  not 
only  were  the  plays  of  the  Elizabethan 
dramatists  printed  and  widely  read,  but  like- 
wise works  of  contemporaneous  writers,  such 
as  Francis  Quarles,  Sir  Aston  Cokain,  Sir 


The  English  Drama.  155 

William  Davenant,  William  Chamberlayne, 
and  Thomas  Killigrew,  were  scattered 
throughout  royalistic  -England.  Naturally 
politics  and  religion  became  topics  for  discus- 
sion with  an  invariable  hostility  to  Puritan- 
ism and  the  Commonwealth. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  an  actor,  by  name 
Robert  Cox,  in  his  ingenious  attempts  to 
defeat  the  object  of  the  law,  and  to  maintain 
himself  by  means  of  his  old  calling,  evolved 
what  were  then  termed  drolls,  and  which  later 
came  to  be  called  farces.  They  were  dia- 
logues and  comic  scenes  taken  from  well- 
known  plays.  Passing  under  another  name, 
these  fragments  were  usually  permitted  to  be 
given  without  molestation  or  interference. 

The  drama  fostered  in  this  its  darkest  hour 
in  England  by  the  infrequent  performances 
of  drolls,  by  sub  rosa  entertainments,  by  its 
literature  and  by  a  strong  friendly  feeling  in 
the  large  royalistic  population,  found  a  cham- 
pion in  Sir  William  Davenant  (1605-1668). 
This  irrepressible  nobleman  and  play-wright 
forms  the  connecting  link  between  the  Eliza- 
bethan and  the  Restoration  drama.  Belong- 
ing, as  he  does,  to  the  reigns  of  three  of  the 
Stuarts,  he  was  poet-laureate  under  Charles 
I.,  without  originality  or  great   genius,    but 


156  The  English  Drama. 

indomitable  and  energetic,  he  may  be  said  to 
be  a  fit  exponent  of  the  play  of  his  day,  which 
was  kept  alive  only  by  the  energy  and  perse- 
verance of  such  men  as  himself.  In  1656 
Davenant,  by  a  clever  application,  backed  by 
an  equally  clever  argument,  was  granted  the 
privilege  of  giving  an  entertainment,  to  con- 
sist of  declamation  and  music,  "  after  the 
manner  of  the  ancients,"  at  Rutland  House,  in 
Aldersgate  Street.  The  opera,  "  The  Siege  of 
Rhodes,"  described  by  Davenant  as  "a 
Representation  by  the  Art  of  Prospective  in 
Scenes,  and  the  story  sung,"  followed  shortly 
the  first  entertainment.  Then  came  the 
operas,  "  The  History  of  Sir  Francis  Drake" 
and  "The  Cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  in  Peru." 
Lastly  Davenant  ventured  boldly  to  produce 
regular  plays,  and  he  was  not  interfered  with. 
Thus  painting  and  music  befriended  and 
restored  the  drama,  only  afterwards,  however, 
to  assail  and  weaken  it.  For  the  way  was 
opened  for  that  formidable  rival  of  the  play, 
the  opera,  and  accessories  were  introduced, 
which  contributed  largely  to  its  degeneracy, 
music  and  scenery. 

The  return  of  Charles  II.  to  his  throne  in 
1660  was  the  signal  for  the  re-opening  of  the 
theatres,    although    several    had    anticipated 


The  English  Drama.  157 

that  event  and  were  already  in  existence  on 
his  arrival.  Two  leading  companies  were 
soon  in  receipt  of  royal  patents.  The  first 
was  called  "  The  Duke  of  York's  Servants," 
and  was  under  the  management  of  Davenant  ; 
the  second  was  "  The  King's  Servants,"  com- 
monly called  the  "  Old  Actors,"  and  was 
headed  by  Killigrew,  a  name  long  and  honor- 
ably connected  with  the  stage.  Davenant's 
theatre  was  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  after  1662, 
Killigrew's  from  1663  near  Drury  Lane,  and 
was  named  the  Theatre  Royal.  With  the 
Restoration  the  stage  entered  upon  a  career 
of  renewed  popularity  and  unprecedented 
favor.  The  theatres  were  improved  and 
women  instead  of  boys  assumed  without 
resistance  the  female  parts.  Actors  and 
dramatists  were  eagerly  sought  out  and  lion- 
ized by  the  Court  and  society.  Nell  Gwynn 
and  the  tragedian  Bctterton  were  favorites  at 
that  time. 

But  though  stamped  with  the  favor  of  king 
and  people,  surrounded  and  equipped  as  it 
had  never  been  before,  its  actors  courted  and 
its  writers  lauded,  yet  the  drama  degenerated. 
In  the  fifty  years  succeeding  the  Restoration 
we  have  but  two  tragedians  worthy  of  being 
ranked  even  with   the  secondary  lights  of  the 


158  The  English  Drama. 

Elizabethan  period,  Dryden  and  Otway.  The 
literary  sins  of  the  former,  and  the  short 
life  of  the  latter,  have  left  us  unfortunately 
but  little  even  here  to  be  admired  and  per- 
petuated. Bare  as  were  the  Stuart  reigns  of 
glorious  deeds,  unfortunate  as  their  arms  had 
been  in  the  field,  clouded  by  disgrace  as  they 
so  frequently  were,  it  is  not  strange  that 
tragedy  should  decline  in  merit  and  favor 
amongst  their  play-writers.  Having  been 
exiled  and  deprived  of  national  existence  for 
a  period,  and  during  that  time  becoming  in- 
fected with  the  gayety  and  brilliancy  of 
France,  the  English  Court,  on  its  reassem- 
bling, wished  to  contemplate  an  amusing  and 
flattering:  reflection  rather  than  a  sombre,  in- 
structive  and  perhaps  detracting  one.  Too 
long  depressed  and  corrupted  by  foreign 
influences,  the  Court  encouraged  in  life  and 
on  the  stage  a  frivolity,  superficiality,  gayety, 
lewdness  and  freedom  from  all  restraint,  that 
has  made  the  time  and  literature  of  Charles 
II.  England's  disgrace.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered in  dwelling  upon  this  period  that 
these  words  of  reproach  concern  only  the 
Court  and  the  theatre,  and  do  not  apply  to 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  who  looked  with 
indignation  upon  the   existing  corruption  in 


The  English  Drama.  159 


metropolitan  circles,  and  whom  the  stage 
either  misrepresents  or  does  not  represent 
at  all. 

The  result  of  the  depraved  taste  of  its 
patrons  on  the  drama  was  to  make  it  equally 
depraved,  and  to  bring  forth  a  coterie  of 
dramatists  who,  for  brilliancy  of  dialogue, 
for  wit,  humor  and  construction,  have  rarely, 
and  for  obscenity  and  immorality,  certainly 
never  been  equaled.  With  these  men  virtue 
is  but  a  name,  which  serves  as  a  cloak  to  hide 
the  most  revolting  sins.  Vice  exists  only  in 
those  who  are  discovered.  Nothing  is  repre- 
hensible save  exposure.  Stupidity,  not 
wirkedness,  is  condemned.  Marriage  is  not 
a  sacred  rite  but  a  convenience,  and  an  inevit- 
able forerunner  of  crime. 

This  state  of  things  could  not,  of  course, 
exist  long.  Being  contrary  to  the  English 
nature  it  must  perish.  A  reaction  was  in- 
evitable. A  reaction  that  would  temporarily 
paralyze  while  purifying  the  drama.  With 
the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  in  1688, 
this  reaction  began.  The  Court  frowned 
upon  the  indecencies  of  the  theatre.  In  1704 
Anne  issued  a  royal  order  against  its  impro- 
prieties. A  national  war  broke  down  the 
distinctions  betwe^Tr^oyalist    and   Puritan, 


i6o  The  English  Drama. 

and  the_j&age  ceased  to  reflect  one  phase  of 
life  alone.  Finally,  with  Addison's  "  Cato," 
in  17 13,  and  Steele's  comedies,  a  crusade  was 
made  against  the  imperfections,  real  and 
imagined,  of  the  stage. 

With  the  very  best  of  intentions  these  writers 
brought  about  the  most  disastrous  results.  For 
nearly  a  hundred  years  after  the  production  of 
"  Cato  "  no  really  great  tragedy  was  written. 
The  attempt  to  introduce  pseudo-classicism 
failed,  but  this  imitation  of  foreign  models, 
stamped  with  the  approval  of  the  day, 
diverted  serious  drama  from  its  natural 
course.  The  immediate  result  was  thg.lran.s».., 
lation  and  adaptation  of  the  French,  and  an 
inferior^jmjtation  of  an  inferior  school. 
This  did  not  satisfy,  and  finally  we  evolve 
the  domestic  tragedy,  the  sentimental  drama, 
which  has  all  the  desired  morality  of  tone, 
and  more  than  enough  of  morality  of  dia- 
logue. Comedy  in  the  Restoration  lost  its 
vigor  and  poetry,  with  Steele  its  viciousness 
and  superficial  brilliancy.  Very  little  being 
left,  a  leavening  of  sentiment  was  introduced 
to  make  it  acceptable.  Both  the  serious  and 
comic  d  r  a  ma  san  k_into ._  meiliocrlty^ajailiM^ 
tation  of  French  and  Spanish  models.  Little 
of  real  value  was  written. 


The  English  Drama.  161 


Into  this  field  of  sloth  and  unworthiness 
David  Garrick  came,  who,  by  his  genius  and 
industry,  was  first  to  shame,  then  rouse  his 
countrymen.  His  unceasing  efforts  in  reviv- 
ing the  Elizabethan  and  Restoration  drama- 
tists, revealed  to  his  age  what  had  been  done 
in  the  drama  in  the  past,  and,  by  his  innumer- 
able bright  farces,  and  the  comedies  of  the 
elder  Colman  and  himself,  showed  what  might 
be  done  in  the  future.  Quickly  follow  the 
works  of  Sheridan,  Goldsmith,  the  younger 
Colman,  O'Keefe,  etc.,  and  the  comedy  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  may 
justly  be  said  to  rival  that  of  the  Restoration 
in  brilliancy,  and  excel  it  in  purity  and  tone. 

I  do  not  think  this  period  has  ever  received 
its  just  meed  of  praise.  A  period  that  has  pro- 
duced such  sterling  works  as  "  The  Rivals," 
"  School  for  Scandal,"  "  Heir  at  Law,"  "  She 
Stoops  to  Conquer,"  "  Wild  Oats,"  is  worthy 
of  more  attention  than  it  has  received. 

The  domestic  drama  likewise  has  advanced, 
and  though  still  full  of  imperfections,  has 
developed  into  the  poetic  and  interesting,  if 
unnatural,  melodrama,  such  as  "  The  Iron 
Chest."  Tragedy  has  contributed  u  Douglas," 
"  The  Roman  Father,"  "  Virginia,"  etc.,  none, 
however,  of  great  merit. 


1 62  The  English  Drama. 

At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  we 
find  the  stage  in  possession  of  a  brilliant 
comedy,  an  entertaining  melodrama,  a  medi- 
ocre tragedy,  an  amusing  farce, and  an  infant 
and  popular  opera. 

Having  rapidly  glanced  at  the  progress  of 
the  English  drama  during  the  one  hundred 
and  forty  years  which  this  lecture  covers,  we 
must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  steps  by 
which  this  progress  was  made.  We  have 
already  stated  that  Davenant's  musical  pieces, 
or  operas,  as  "  The  Siege  of  Rhodes,"  had 
opened  the  way  for  the  return  of  the  drama 
proper  ;  that  the  drama  of  this  epoch,  taking 
its  initiative  from  the  Court  which  supported 
it,  was  not  a  national  development,  but  a 
product  of  the  combined  influence  of  the 
classic,  the  French,  the  Italian  and  the  Spanish 
play,  reflecting  brilliantly  in  its  tragedy  an 
unreal  existence,  and  in  its  comedy  the 
depraved  Court  of  the  second  Charles  ;  that 
the.  popularity  of  the  stage  and  its  occu- 
pants were  equaled  only  by  their  immor- 
ality. 

Although  we  have  assigned  already  reasons 
for  the  condition  of  the  Restoration  drama, 
yet  we  have  not  accounted  for  the  inferior 
English    product    based     on      such     French 


The  English  Drama..  163 

classics  as  Moliere  and  Racine.  It  is  remark- 
able that  a  series  of  French  writers,  possessing 
so  many  excellencies,  should,  by  their 
influence,  produce  a  series  of  English  writers 
possessing  so  many  faults.  To  be  sure  the 
French  models  chosen  in  tragedy,  Corneille 
and  Racine,  were  pseudo  -  classicists  and 
exponents  of  an  unnatural  school,  and  in  so 
far  their  direct  effect  was  injurious.  But 
these  writers  were  in  perfect  sympathy  with 
their  national  spirit  and  time,  and  possess 
many  excellencies.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the 
English  failed  to  perceive  this  important 
lesson  of  sympathy  with  one's  people  and  age, 
and  neglecting  the  good  points,  should  have 
copied  only  the  meretricious.  The  spirit  of 
French  tragedy  is  entirely  foreign  to  the 
English  nature,  and  neither  that  nor  its  sound 
morality  was  caught  by  the  British  writer. 
To  Racine  and  Corneille  English  tragedy 
became  indebted  for  its  form  and  verse,  for 
the  substitution  of  rime  for  blank  verse  ;  but 
its  spirit  was  derived  from  the  wildly  impro- 
bable French  romances  of  Mile,  de  Scudery, 
etc.,  which  are  filled  with  astonishing  heroic 
deeds,  melodious  names,  ravishing  descrip- 
tions, undying  love  ;  heroes  like  Artamanes, 
who  alone  slay  one  hundred  thousand   men  ; 


164  The  English  Drama. 

heroines  who  suffer  unspeakable  sorrows  ; 
villains  of  incomparable  wickedness. 

Moliere,  the  model  taken  for  comedy, 
must  not  be  held  accountable  for  the  sins  of 
his  British,  imitators.  He  was  apparently 
entirely  above  and  beyond  the  comprehen- 
sion of  his  island  neighbors.  Fortunately  for 
comedy,  it  was  deemed  unsuitable  for  rime, 
and  passed  almost  wholly  into  prose.  Even 
in  tragedy  the  innovation  or  rather  revival 
(for  it  had  previously  existed)  of  rime  being 
artificial,  could  not  live  long.  Dryden's 
whim  gave  it  a  passing  success,  as  his  sup- 
port did  the  "  heroic  "  tragedy,  both  of  which 
were  doomed  when  his  approbation  should 
be  withdrawn. 

The  Italian  influence  is  confined  chiefly  to 
the  introduction  of  the  opera  and  of  music  as 
an  accessory  to  the  play.  Shakespeare's  and 
Fletcher's  plays  become  adorned  with  mu- 
sical accompaniments.  Dryden,  Gay  and  later 
Sheridan  produced  operas.  Finally  the  bal- 
let was  introduced.  All  of  these  novelties, 
however  good  in  themselves,  were  evil  in  their 
effects,  in  so  far  as  they  individually  and  col- 
lectively detracted  from  the  demands  on  the 
literary  element  in  the  play.  Yet  to  the 
credit  of  the  English    people   be    it  said  that 


The  English  Drama.  165 

even  in  that  age  of  false  and  perverted  taste 
a  sufficient  admiration  for  the  Elizabethan 
dramas  existed  to  warrant  their  production, 
though  unfortunately  adapted,  re-arranged 
and  generally  tortured. 

The  attempt  to  re-establish  the  use  of 
rime  in  English  tragedy  was  first  made  by 
Robert  Boyle,  Earl  of  Orrery  (  -1679).  ^e 
was  the  originator  of  that  dramatic  type  of 
doubtful  value,  the  "  heroic  "  drama.  The 
first  of  these  remarkable  productions  was  his 
"  Black  Prince,"  which  was  acted  in  1667. 
This  was  followed  by  a  number  of  others,  all 
equally  uninteresting,  unnatural  and  unreal. 
They  are  to  be  noted  only  for  the  consistency 
with  which  the  "  heroic  "  couplet  is  used. 

The  champion  of  the  "heroic  "  drama,  how- 
ever, the  man  whose  genius  alone  made  it 
popular  and  whose  example  gave  it  whatever 
lease  of  life  it  had,  was  that  inconsistent  liter- 
ary dictator  of  his  age,  John  Dryden  (1631- 
1700).  This  intellectual  giant,  whose  ener- 
gies were  so  misdirected,  whose  self-conceit 
was  so  vast,  whose  opportunities  for  good 
were  so  great,  and  whose  attainments  in  this 
direction  were  so  insignificant,  was  the  cen- 
tral figure  of  the  Restoration  literature.  One 
♦of  the  greatest  masters  of  style  and  verse  in 


1 66  The  English  Drama. 

our  language,  the  greatest  poet  of  his  time, 
undoubtedly  he  was  the  man  and  the  only 
man  who  might  have  turned  the  current  of 
corruption  into  purer  channels  and  have  re- 
vived the  Elizabethan  spirit  of  the  drama. 
But  the  man  was  not  so  great  as  the  poet,  and 
Dryden  espoused  the  cause  of  that  vitiated 
taste  which  sought  entertainment  in  the 
"  heroic  "  drama  and  the  licentious  comedy. 
Although  thoroughly  disliking  the  latter 
dramatic  typerand  believing  himself  unsuited 
for  its  requirements,  yet,,  freed  as  he  was  here 
from  false  notions  of  verse  (comedy  was  now 
written  in  prose)  some  of  his  most  brilliant 
achievements  were  in  this  field. 

Dryden  was  a  well-known  writer  and  a  mem- 
ber of  tke  Royal  Society  before  he  became 
associated  with  the  stage.  Necessity  first  in- 
duced him  to  seek  this  means  of  earning  a  live- 
lihood. His  earliest  works  were  not  success- 
ful. In  conjunction  with  his  brother-in-law,  Sir 
Robert  Howard,  he  produced  u  The  Indian 
Queen,"  in  1664,  which  met  with  considerable 
favor.  In  the  following  year,  1665,  Dryden's 
tragedy,  "  The  Indian  Emperor,  or  The  Con- 
quest of  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards,"  was  re- 
ceived with  enthusiastic  applause.  Both  of 
these  plays  were  specimens  of  the  "  heroic"' 


The  English  Drama.  167 

drama.  Love  and  honor  were  the  all  absorb- 
ing subjects.  The  riming  couplet  was  used 
throughout  and  at  once  attained  popularity. 
Dryden  entered  immediately  the  front  rank 
of  contemporary  dramatists,  and  in  his  own 
estimation,  of  all  dramatists. 

In  1667  or  68  Dryden  published  his  "Essay 
of  Dramatic  Poesy."  This  excellent  treatise 
contains  many  truths  and  a  large  number  of 
sophisms.  Dryden  recognizes  the  exalted 
position  of  the  English  stage,  refutes  many 
erroneous  accusations  made  against  it,  and 
perceives  many  of  the  merits  in  Shakespeare 
and  Fletcher.  But  by  this  article  he  also  en- 
deavors to  justify  the  substitution  of  rime  for 
blank  verse.  His  defence  of  rime  may  be 
rejected  unhesitatingly.  Indeed  in  later  years 
he  did  not  scruple  when  weary  of  rime  to 
discard  it  and  to  return  to  blank  verse. 

About  1679  ne  published  a  second  essay 
on  the  subject,  entitled  "  Grounds  of  Criti- 
cism in  Tragedy,"  in  which  his  views  are 
seen  to  be  greatly  altered,  and  by  which 
he  dooms  the  "heroic"  tragedy.  He  per- 
ceives the  errors  of  extravagance  and  over- 
elaboration,  and  begins  to  desire  those 
powers  of  compactness  and  characterization 
so  admirably  displayed  by  Shakespeare,     It 


1 68  The  English  Drama. 

is  unfortunate  that  his  admiration  of  the 
great  poet  should  have  led  him  to  mutilate 
his  works.  His  adaptation  of  "  The  Tern-  , 
pest,"  for  which  Davenant  is  partly  responsi- 
ble, was  an  early  attempt,  it  is  true.  But 
"  Troilus  and  Cressida,  or  Truth  Found 
Too  Late,"  and  "All  for  Love,  or  The 
World  Well  Lost"  (Shakespeare's  "Antony 
and  Cleopatra  "),  were  later  works.  The  last- 
named  is  not  unworthy  of  pfaise,  as  it  con- 
tains many  beautiful  passages  and  shows 
what  Dryden's  genius,  rightly  directed,  might 
have  accomplished.  In  his  declining  years 
the  poet  acknowledges  his  mistake  and  his 
sin  against  literature  in  a  pathetic  "  Ode  to 
Mrs.  Anne  Killigrew  "  (1686). 

His  best  known  plays  that  have  not  been 
mentioned  already,  are  "  Secret  Love,  or  The 
Maiden  Queen  "  (1667),  "Tyrranic  Love,  or 
The  Royal  Martyr"  (1669),  "Almanzor  and 
Almahide,  or  The  Conquest  of  Granada  by 
the  Spaniards"  (1670),  "Don  Sebastian" 
(1690),  "  King  Arthur"  (1691),  "The  Spanish 
Friar  "  (1681),  "  Sir  Martin  Mar-All  "  (1667), 
iC  riarriage-a-la-Mode  "  (1673),  etc.,  etc. 

Besides  Dryden,  the  drama  of  the  Restora- 
tion, that  is  to  say,  the  drama  which  extends 
iron    1660  to   the    production    of   Addison's 


The  English  Drama.  169 

"  Cato  "  in  17 13,  boasts  the  names  of  such 
writers  of  tragedy  as  Elkanah  Settle,  John 
Crowne,  Nathaniel  Lee,  Thomas  Otway, 
Thomas  Southerne,  George  Granville, 
LoRrr  L^nsdowne,  and  Nicholas  Rowe  ;  and 
of  such  writers  of  comedy  as  Sir  George 
Etherege,  Sir  George  Sedley,  John  Lacy, 
Mrs.  Aphro  Behn,  Mrs.  Centlivre,  Mrs.  Man- 
ley,  Thomas  D'Urfey,  Thomas  Shadwell, 
William  Wycherly,  Sir  John  Vanburgh, 
George  Farquhar,  William  Congreve  and 
Colley  Cibber.  By  this  somewhat  arbitrary 
division  into  writers  of  tragedies  and  writers 
of  comedy,  it  is  not  intended  to  imply  that 
the  dramatists  whose  names  have  been  placed 
in  the  one  list  never  wrote  anything  outside 
of  the  class  in  which  they  occur.  But  it  is 
intended  to  show  in  what  class  their  best 
work,  and  the  greater  part  of  it,  has  been 
done  ;  the  work  by  which  they  earned  their 
fame  and  which  entitles  them  to  remembrance. 
John  Crowne  (  -1703  circ.)  was  a  dra- 
matist who  knew  what  pleased  his  audience 
and  gave  it  to  them.  As  a  result  he  was  a 
popular  but  not  an  excellent  author.  He 
wrote  both  in  rime  and  blank  verse,  though 
he  handled  the  latter  better.  His  successful 
compositions     include    both    tragedies     and 


170  The  English  Drama. 

comedies.  Possessed  of  considerable  skill 
and  fluency,  he  lacks  refinement  and  accuracy. 
His  tragedies  include  "  The  Destruction  of 
Jerusalem,"  "  Thyestes "  and  "  Regulus." 
Amongst  his  comedies  may  be  noted  "  Sir 
Courtley  Nice,"  "  City  Politicks  "  and  "  Mar- 
ried Beau." 

Nathaniel  Lee  (1650-1690),  a  successful 
writer  of  this  period,  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able power,  impetuous,  ambitious,  passionate  ; 
so  miserably  excitable  of  temperament  that 
in  1684  he  was  for  some  time  insane,  and  in 
1690  met  his  death — it  is  said  in  a  drunken 
fit.  He  composed  in  rime  and  belonged  to 
Dryden's  "heroic"  school  until  1677,  when 
he  began  to  use  blank  verse.  His  plays,  of 
which  the  best  known  are  "  The  Rival 
Queens  "  (1677),  and  "  The  Massacre  of  Paris  " 
(1690),  are  extravagant  and  bombastic. 

Thomas  Otway  (1651-1685)  is  a  lamentable 
instance  of  a  man  possessed  of  great  genius, 
but  whose  brilliant  faculties  have  been 
blunted  and  prematurely  destroyed  by  weak- 
ness and  immorality  ;  a  man  whose  grave 
was  dug  early  by  despair  and  debauchery. 
It  is  true  that  he  was  unfortunate.  He  had 
been  well  educated,  but  was  left  penniless. 
It  was  his  misfortune  to  love  without  recipn> 


The  English  Drama.  171 


cation.  He  was  at  times  favored,  at  times 
rebuffed  by  noble  patrons.  His  life  was  one 
of  recklessness  and  wretchedness.  His  work 
reflects  this.  Sometimes  it  is  coarse  and 
repellent,  oftener  inexpressibly  tender  and 
beautiful.  He  excels  in  his  love  scenes. 
Notwithstanding  all  his  faults  he  has  written 
probably  the  finest  tragedy  in  the  Restoration 
drama,  "  Venice  Preserved."  The  subject  of 
this  play,  a  conspiracy  to  overthrew  the 
Venetian  oligarchic  despotism,  is  admirably 
chosen,  being  both  interesting  and  dramatic. 
The  characters  of  Belvidera,  the  heroine 
who  induces  her  husband  to  betray  the  con- 
spiracy, Jaffier,  the  traitor,  and  Pierre,  the 
patriot,  are  excellently  drawn,  and  have 
served  to  maintain  the  popularity  of  the 
piece  even  into  recent  times.  Other  of 
Otway's  plays  are  "  Don  Carlos,"  "  The 
Orphan,"  "  Caius  Marius  "  (a  willful  plagiar- 
ism), "  The  Atheist,"  etc.  His  comedies  are 
wretched  compositions. 

Thomas  Southerne  (1660-1746)  wras  a 
prominent  and  respected  author  of  his  time. 
"  Oroonoko  "  (1696),  "  The  Fatal  Marriage" 
(1694),  and  "  The  Loyal  Brother  "  are  amongst 
his  contributions  to  the  drama. 

George     Granville,    Lord     Lansdowne 


172  The  English  Drama. 

(1667-1733),  is  chiefly  interesting  in  that  his 
work,  "  Heroic  Love,"  may  be  said  to  connect 
the  Restoration  and  "  Augustan "  period. 
Of  no  particular  merit  as  an  author. 

Nicholas  Rowe  (1673-1718)  was  in  his 
time  dramatist,  poet-laureate  and  editor  of 
Shakespeare's  plays.  His  fame  rests  chiefly 
upon  this  last  undertaking.  Notwithstand- 
ing his  admiration  of  Shakespeare  and  his 
desire  to  follow  in  his  foot-steps,  Rowe 
showed  himself  unable  to  appreciate  his 
master  when  he  said  that  Shakespeare  excelled 
in  male  characters  only.  As  a  dramatist 
Rowe  was  gifted  with  refinement,  power  and 
considerable  skill  in  portraying  character 
and  in  devising  situations.  He  was  lacking, 
however,  in  poetic  passion  and  elevation. 
"Jane  Shore"  (1714),  "Lady  Jane  Grey 
(1715),  and  "  The  Royal  Convert  "  (1707),  are 
his  most  notable  works,  the  first  of  which  is 
still  occasionally  acted. 

Sir  George  Etherege  (1636-1694  circ), 
the  first  in  point  of  time  on  our  list  of  comic 
dramatists,  contributed  three  plays  to  the 
stage  of  the  later  Stuarts,  "  The  Comical 
Revenge,  or  Love  in  a  Tub,"  "  She  Would  if 
She  Could,"  and  "  The  Man  of  Mode,  or  Sir 
Topling  Flutter.     Where  there  is  so  little  to 


The  English  Drama.  173 

commend  it  is  just  as  well  to  be  silent,  a 
remark  which  is  equally  applicable  to  the 
productions  of  Sir  George  Sedley  and 
Thomas  D'Urfey,  a  plagiarist  of  the  deepest 
die. 

John  Lacy  (died  1681)  was  one  of  those 
actors  who  fought  under  the  Stuart  banner 
during  the  Revolution,  and  who  in  1660 
returned  with  Charles  to  re-pursue  his  former 
avocation  of  player,  to  which  was  subse- 
quently added  that  of  play-wright.  Though 
coarse,  there  is  much  brightness  and  skill 
shown  in  his  comedies,  the  best  of  which  is 
"  The  Old  Troop."  It  is  to  this  actor-author 
that  we  owe  that  marvelous  adaptation  of 
Shakespeare's  "  Taming  of  the  Shrew," 
"  Sauny  the  Scot." 

Mrs.  Aphro  Behn,  (the  divine  Astraea) 
Mrs.  Manly  and  Mrs.  Centlivre,  form  a  trio 
of  female  dramatists  whose  plays  were  many 
and  revolting.  In  the  mass  of  disreputable 
matter  which  these  women  wrote,  but  two 
comedies  (both  Mrs.  Centlivre's)  deserve  any 
praise.  "  The  Busy  Body,"  and  "  The  Won- 
der a  Woman  Keeps  a  Secret."  The  former 
contains  the  excellent  character  of  Marplot, 
and  the  latter  that  of  Don  Felix. 

Thomas     Shadwell      (1640-1692),      poet- 


174  The  English  Drama. 

laureate  and  royal  historiographer  to  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  was  a  writer  who,  though 
coarse,  was  evidently  an  opponent  of  social 
wrongs.  He  admired  Ben  Jonson  and  sought 
to  imitate  him.  In  his  life  and  temperament 
he  resembled  his  master,  though  falling  short 
in  merit.  A  list  of  his  plays  includes  "  The 
Sullen  Lovers,  or  The  Impertinents,"  "  The 
Virtuoso,"  "  Epsom  Wells,"  "  The  Lancashire 
Witches."  Shadwell  is  one  of  the  first  writers 
to  introduce  the  character  of  an  Irishman 
into  comedy. 

Despite  the  ascendency  the  "  heroic " 
drama  had  attained  under  Dryden,  there 
were  many  who  were  not  blind  to  its  defects 
and  lamented  its  influence.  Accordingly,  to 
counteract  the  effect  of  this  pernicious  type, 
and  to  purify  the  public  taste,  the  riming 
tragedies  were  attacked  by  that  most  power- 
ful of  weapons,'  ridicule.  In  167 1  appeared 
the  famous  burlesque-comedy,  "  The  Re- 
hearsal," written  by  George  Villiers,  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  and  others.  This  play  was  the 
result  of  much  and  prolonged  labor,  which 
was  rewarded  by  unprecedented  success. 
Twenty-one  editions  were  published,  and 
many  imitations  of  it  have  appeared  in  sub- 
sequent   years,   the    most    noteworthy    being 


The  English  Drama.  175 

Sheridan's  "Critic."  Its  effect  on  the 
"  heroic  "  type  must  have  been  considerable, 
though  so  long  as  Dryden  wrote  not  even 
ridicule  could  destroy  its  popularity.  Yet 
without  the  check  imposed  by  "  The  Re- 
hearsal," it  is  difficult  to  say  to  what  extremes 
the  "  heroic  "  drama  might  not  have  gone. 

We  now  approach  that  quartette  of  come- 
dians whose  brilliancy  and  immorality  have 
attracted  the  admiration  and  disgust  of  all 
succeeding  generations.  Wycherly  (who  in 
point  of  time  preceded  the  others,  and  might 
rather  be  said  to  be  a  contemporary  of  Dry- 
den), Congreve,  Vanburgh  and  Farquhar. 
The  first,  whose  broad  and  pointed  wit  was 
once  so  popular,  but  is  to  us  so  unnatural, 
was  the  model  for  the  three  younger  men. 
They  were  more  gifted,  more  decent  and 
more  refined  than  Wycherly,  though  equally 
as  corrupt.  Of  the  four,  Congreve  haS  been 
given  the  first  place  by  reason  of  his  surpas- 
sing brilliancy  of  dialogue,  wit  and  humor. 
After  a  long  interval  this  school  was  to  re- 
appear in  a  purified  but  equally  meritorious 
form  in  Sheridan  and  Colman,  in  whom  it 
was  to  reach  its  climax  and  culmination. 

William  Wycherly  (1640-1715),  a  vicious 
but  remarkably  powerful  comic  dramatist,  is 


176  The  English  Drama. 

in  his  dramas  and  his  life  a  fit  exponent  of 
the  corrupt  and  superficial  Court  of  Charles 
II.  In  his  plays  we  meet  with  strong 
characters,  acting  and  speaking  naturally — 
we  might  almost  say  too  much  so.  His  satire 
is  keen  and  his  wit  cynical  and  merciless. 
He  uncloaks  vice,  it  is  true,  but  less  with  a 
purpose  of  rendering  punishment  than  of 
furnishing  amusement.  "  Love  in  a  Wood  " 
(1672),  "  The  Dancing  Master  (1673),  "The 
Country  Wife"  (1675),  and  "The  Plain 
Dealer"  (1677),  are  his  best  known  works. 
"  The  Country  Wife,"  as  Wycherly  wrote  it, 
is  an  appalling  and. vicious  picture  of  a  certain 
phase  of  Restoration  life.  Remodeled  by 
Garrick,  as  "  The  Country  Girl,"  in  which 
the  spirit  and  cynicism  is  preserved,  while 
much  that  is  offensive  has  been  eliminated,  it 
has  been  successfully  revived  at  various  times. 
The  favor  with  which  it  has  met  being  largely 
due  to  the  character  of  Peggy,  a  hoyden, 
which,  in  the  hands  of  a  clever  actress,  may 
be  made  a  delightful  role.  The  character 
won  fame  at  different  times  and  in  different 
land*  for  two  charming  actresses,  Mrs.  Jordan 
and  Ada  Rehan.  "  The  Plain  Dealer  "  is  an 
English  version  of  Moliere's  "  Misanthrope." 
Wycherley's  play  is  far  inferior  to  the  French 


The  English  Drama.  177 

model,  and  his  hero,  "  Manly,"  is  an  example 
ot  now  little  Moliere  was  understood  by  his 
would-be  British  followers.  Although  a  dis- 
gusting, it  is  undoubtedly  a  powerful  play. 
tk  The  Dancing  Master,"  composed  on  a 
Spanish  model,  is  exceedingly  clever  and 
interesting. 

William  Congreve  (1 670-1 729)  was  the 
brightest  luminary  of  the  later  Restoration 
drama.  Dryden,  in  his  old  age,  perceiving 
the  merit  of  the  young  author,  gladly  yielded 
his  exalted  position  to  the  only  man  whom  he 
deemed  worthy  to  be  his  successor.  It  was 
perhaps  unfortunate  that  Congreve's  genius 
was  so  universally  recognized  in  his  own  day. 
Had  it  been  otherwise  he  might  have  been 
spurred  on  to  greater  endeavors. 

As  it  was  he  has  left  but  five  works,  one  of 
which,  "  The  Mourning  Bride  "  (1697),  is  a 
tragedy.  His  first  production,  "  The  Old 
Bachelor  "  (1693),  an  excellent  though  not 
a  strikingly  original  work,  met  with  unstinted 
applause.  "  The  Double  Dealer,"  produced 
the  same  year,  is  a  comedy  of  the  first  rank, 
and  won  enthusiastic  praise  from  its  author's 
contemporaries.  Two  unusually  strong  char- 
acters found  in  this  piece  are  Maskwell  and 
Lady      Touchwood.       "  Love      for      Love " 


178  The  English  Drama. 

appeared  in  1695,  "The  Way  of  the  World  " 
in  1700.  The  latter,  though  of  great  excel- 
lence, failed  in  representation.  After  this  Con- 
greve  abandoned  play-writing.  His  single 
tragedy,  "  The  Mourning  Bride "  (1697) 
reveals  the  one-sidedness  of  Congreve's  art. 
He  was  not  a  tragedian.  He  was  also 
the  author  of  a  masque,  "  The  Judgement 
of  Paris,  "  and  of  an  opera,  "  Semele, " 
neither  of  much  importance. 

His  dramatic  achievements,  though  bring- 
ing him  great  fame,  were  not  the  source  of  the 
same  pride  to  Congreve  that  they  would  have 
been  to  another  man.  He  preferred  the  title 
of  an  English  gentleman  to  that  of  a  dramatist. 
Nevertheless  it  is  as  dramatist  that  he  will 
be  remembered  longest.  In  the  brilliancy, 
grace  and  ease  of  his  dialogue  he  excelled  all 
contemporaries  and  most  predecessors.  He 
was  one  of  the  wittiest  of  Englishmen  and 
his  plays  are  amongst  the  wittiest  in  the 
drama.  His  characters  and  plots  are  vigor- 
ously and  skillfully  handled.  But  unfortun- 
ately Congreve's  merits  as  a  writer  are  only 
superficial  ones.  The  spirit  of  his  works,  as 
well  as  their  language,  is  frivolous  and 
immoral. 

Sir   John   Vanburgh   (1666  circ-1726),  as 


The  English  Drama.  179 

well  as  being  one  of  the  leading  dramatists 
was  also  one  of  the  most  eminent  architects 
of  his  day.  His  comedies  are  vivacious, 
fluent,  well-constructed  and  sparkling.  One 
of  his  characters  is  strikingly  original  and  life- 
like, Lord  Foppington  in  "  The  Relapse,  or 
Virtue  in  Danger."  This  play,  produced  in 
1697,  was  Vanburgh's  first  and  best  work. 
"  The  Provoked  Wife,"  "  The  Confederacy," 
"  The  Mistake,"  "  The  False  Friend,"  and  an 
unfinished  play,  which  Cibber  afterwards 
completed  and  presented  in  1728  under  the 
title  of  "  The  Provoked  Husband,"  (Vanbrugh 
had  named  it  "  A  Trip  to  London  "),  all  show 
their  author  in  a  highly  brilliant  but  immoral 
light. 

George  Farquhar  (1678-1707)  was  one  of 
the  first  of  the  distinguished  Irishmen  who 
have  written  for  the  stage,  a  list  of  whose 
names  includes  Sheridan,  Goldsmith,  Bouci- 
cault,  etc.,  etc.  Possessed  of  those  qualities 
which  were  shared  in  general  by  his  contem- 
poraries, brilliancy,  vivacity,  humor,  accur- 
acy in  description  of  a  certain  kind  of  man- 
ners, coarseness  and  invention,  Farquhar  also 
revealed  more  freshness  and  originality  than 
did  his  colleagues.  His  characters  and  situa- 
tions are  often  dubious,  but  his  treatment  of 


180  The  English  Drama. 

them  is  vigorous  and  interesting.  His  mas- 
terpiece is  "  The  Bea  Qtratagem  "  (1707), 
which  has  ever  been  a  vorite  on  the  stage, 
and  wjiich  contains  one  of  Garrick's  best 
roles,  Archer.  "The  Recruiting  Officer  "  is 
another  highly  succe^of.  jtfort.  "  The  Incon- 
stant "  (1703),  suggested  oy  Fletcher's  "  Wild 
Goose  Chase,"  is  likewis  .  very  meritorious 
work.  His  first  play,  "  -ove  in  a  Bottle," 
was  given  to  the  publu  which  received  it 
with  approbation,  in  1698. 

Colley  Cibber  (1671-1757)  was  an  actor, 
author  and  manager. .  He  was  a  great  favorite 
as  an  actor,  particularly  in  the  role  of  fops, 
and  was  seen  on  the  stage  as  late  as  1745, 
although  he  retired  in  1732.  In  1730  he  was 
appointed  poet  laureate.  As  ;  author  he 
endeavored,  though  not  alwa}  lccessfully, 
to  reform  the  comedy  of  his  /.  "  Love's 
Last  Shift,"  suggested  by  Vanbrugh's  "  The 
Relapse,"  "  Woman's  Wit,"  "  The  (vareless 
Husband,"  The  Lady's  Last  Stake,"  and  "  She 
Would  and  She  Would  Not,"  are  commend- 
able efforts.  The  last-named  is  still  occasion- 
ally given,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  bills  in 
Mr.  Augustin  Daly's  extensive  repertoire. 

We  have  now  reached  an  important  epoch 
in  the  history  of  the  drama.     From  the  earliest 


The  English  Drama.  181 

times  we  have  watched  it  acquire  growth, 
vigor,  form,  symn-  y.  The  inner  ethical 
beauties  and  the  ward  charms  of  verse 
and  dialogue  have  been  .elaborated.  In 
Shakespeare  we  ha^e  beheld  the  apex  of 
dramatic  perfectk  u  In  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors, the  Elizabethan  dramatists,  we  have 
noticed  the  decl'.,  „of  ethical  perception,  in 
symmetry  and  gr<  *iually  in  vigor  and  verse. 
Then  came  the  C  yil  War,  a  period  barely 
bridged  by  the  supporters  of  the  drama. 
With  the  accession  of  Charles  the  drama 
sprang  once  more  into  life,  but  though  not 
wanting  in  talented  authors  to  support  it,  it 
was  so  hampered,  restrained  and  corrupted 
by  false  notions  of  life,  manners  and  poetry 
that  all  gQftd  qualities,  save  brilliancy  and 
fluency,  wc  'iscarded,  and  its  baser  qualities, 
its  imperft  ins  were  glaringly  exhibited. 
The  drama  without  a  moral  purpose  can  not 
exist  1  mg.  When  play-writing  sinks  to  the 
level  it  did  inthe  Restoration  authors,  it  must 
either  be  annihilated  or  purified.  The  most 
forcible  and  almost  irrefutable  attack  the 
stage  ever  received  was  made  at  this  period 
(1698)  by  the  famous  Jeremy  Collier,  in  his 
book,  "  A  Short  View  of  the  Immorality  and 
Profaneness  of  the  English  Stage."    Dryden, 


The  English  Drama. 


Congreve  and  Vanbrugh  all  attempted  to 
refute,  but  really  maintained  Collier's  asser- 
tions. The  effect  made  by  this  book  was 
extensive  and  visible.  It  became  popular  to 
save  the  sinners  in  the  fifth  act.  Colly  Cibber 
made  earnest  efforts  for  improvements.  But 
the  reformation,  and  well-nigh  the  annihila- 
tion, of  the  drama  was  brought  about  by 
those  masters  of  style,  and  eminently  well- 
intentioned  men,  Addison  and  Steele.  It  is 
unquestionably  to  these  authors  that  we 
owe  the  purification  of  the  stage.  It  is 
unfortunate  that  we  must  ascribe  also  to  one 
of  them  the  death,  or  at  least  the  prolonged 
sleep,  of  English  tragedy.  Comedy,  being  a 
description  of  manners  and  characters,  is 
more  tenacious  of  life  than  her  serious  sister, 
and  will  always  have  a  past,  a  present  and  a 
future.  Tragedy,  like  a  camelia,  is  a  flower 
demanding  certain  conditions  of  growth, 
deprived  of  which  it  withers  and  perishes. 

It  is  seldom  that  it  is  granted  to  a  man  to 
achieve  lasting  fame  by  a  single  work.  Yet 
upon  Joseph  Addison  (1672-1719)  was  be- 
stowed this  favor.  "  Cato,"  a  tragedy  on  clas- 
sical models,  or  what  Addison  took  to  be  clas- 
sical models,  was  the  work  that  established  its 
author's  fame  as  a  dramatist,  and  marks  an 


The  English  Drama.  183 

epoch  in  dramatic  history.  Built  on  the 
plan  it  is,  the  play  is  unnatural  in  action,  not 
happy  in  its  characterization  and  contains  a 
number  of  intrusive  episodes.  Its  dialogue, 
though  often  stilted,  is  chaste  and  sometimes 
effective.  Its  extraordinary  success  was  due 
entirely  to  the  time  in  which  it  was  produced, 
when  hostile  politicians  eagerly  sought  and 
approved  what  they  chose  to  consider  as  in 
accordance  and  praise  of  their  deeds  and 
views.  "  Cato  "  was  not  intended  for  the 
stage,  and  was  not  produced  until  1713,  many 
years  after  it  was  first  written.  The  injury  it 
did  to  tragedy  was  not  in  the  adoption  of  a 
purer  tone,  but  in  the  discarding  of  the 
natural  demands  and  form  of  English  drama, 
and  the  apparently  successful  introduction 
of  rules  foreign  to  its  existence. 

Sir  Richard  Steele  (1671-1729)  seconded 
Addison  in  his  endeavor  to  correct  the 
manners  and  morals  of  that  period,  and  to- 
gether they  may  be  said  to  have  in  a  large 
measure  succeeded.  Certain  it  is  that  licen- 
tiousness and  indecency  were  henceforth 
banished  from  the  stage.  Steele  exercised 
his  talents  to  popularizing  virtue  and  to 
rendering  profanity  and  immorality  abhor- 
rent:    But   lacking   Shakespearean  vigor  and 


184  The  English  Dra?na. 

the  Restoration  brilliancy,  and  discarding 
its  broad  wit  and  coarse  intrigue,  Steele 
was  obliged  to  call  into  use  sentiment 
to  make  his  plays  acceptable.  This  was  the 
origin  of  the  "  sentimental  "  comedy,  which, 
with  the  "  sentimental "  drama,  both  in- 
ferior dramatic  types,  held  the  stage  for 
many  years.  Steele's  best  plays  are  "  The 
Funeral  or  Grief  a  la  Mode  "  (1702)  (an  excel- 
lent work),  "The  Lying  Lover"  (the  first  in- 
stance of  "  sentimental "  comedy  proper), 
"  The  Tender  Husband  (1705),  and  "The 
Conscious    Lovers  "  (1722). 

The  Restoration  drama  may  be  said  to 
cease  with  the  death  of  Anne,  though  it  had 
practically  disappeared  with  the  advent  of 
Steele  and  Addison  some  years  before.  A 
few  plays  belonging  to  the  old  school 
appeared  afterwards,  Cibber's  version  of  Van- 
brugh's  "A  Provoked  Husband,"  in  1729, 
being  the  last  of  these.  With  this  solitary 
exception  we  may  say  that  from  17 14  to  the 
production  of  the  elder  Colman's  "Jealous 
Wife,"  in  1761,  or  for  a  period  of  nearly  fifty 
years,  no  genuinely  meritorious  comedy  was 
produced.  As  regards  original  productions, 
the  stage  was  given  up  to  mediocre  trage- 
dies,   which    were     soon     forgotten,    opera, 


The  English  Drama.  185 

domestic  tragedy,  or  melodrama,  sentimental 
comedy  and  farce. 

The  tragedies  of  this  period  do  not  call  for 
notice. 

The  operas  in  that  they  were  so  unusually 
popular,  especially  one  of  them,  must  not  be 
passed  by.  Ever  since  Davenant's  "  Siege  of 
Rhodes,"  produced  during  the  Common- 
wealth, this  style  of  performance  had  been 
growing  in  favor.  Music  had  been  written  to 
many  plays  ;  dances  and  songs  had  been 
introduced.  Italian  opera  in  one  form  or 
another  had  become  an  institution.  In  1727 
Gay's  famous  "  Beggar's  Opera  "  appeared. 
Its  success  was  so  great  that  it  was  given  in 
London  for  sixty-three  consecutive  nights,  a 
run  then  unprecedented,  and  met  with  equal 
applause  in  the  provinces.  For  the  time 
being  Italian  opera  was  driven  from  London. 
Such  was  the  rage  his  work  created  that 
ladies  carried  about  fans  with  the  songs 
written  on  them,  the  leading  singer  married 
a  duke,  and  John  Gay,  dying  in  1732,  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Amongst  the  farce  writers  of  this  period,  a 
class  in  which  we  find  the  names  of  Garrick 
and  Fielding,  must  be  mentioned  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  figures  in  the  history  of  the 


1 86  The  English  Drama. 

drama,  Samuel  Foote  :  a  university  man,  a 
law  student,  a  man  who  squandered  three 
fortunes,  an  actor,  an  author  of  some  twenty- 
five  elongated  farces,  a  manager,  who  for  ten 
years  successfully  kept  his  theatre,  the  Hay- 
market,  open  without  license.  His  most 
popular  pieces  were  "  The  Diversions  of  a 
Morning,"  his  initial  effort,  "  The  Auction  of 
Pictures,"  "  The  Mirror,"  in  which  the  Meth- 
odists are  satirized,  "  The  Bankrupt,"  which 
attacks  the  newspapers,  "The  Liar,"  etc. 
He  died  in  1777. 

Henry  Fielding  (1707-1754)  wrote  some 
twenty  pieces,  of  which  the  best  known  are 
"  The  Wedding  Day  "  and  "  Tom  Thumb." 

David  Garrick  (1716-1779)  is  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  names  in  the  annals  of  the 
stage  or  the  history  of  the  drama.  It  will 
pass  without  question,  I  take  it,  that  Garrick 
was  one  of  the  greatest  actors  the  English 
stage  has  ever  seen.  His  achievements  in 
this  line  are  too  well  known  for  mention  here. 
The  actor  who  was  equally  great  as  tragedian 
or  comedian,  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 
What  he  did  for  the  drama  as  an  author  was 
probably  not  considerable,  although  he  wrote 
some  of  the  best  farces  of  his  century,  and 
assisted  in  the  composition  of  one  of  the  best 


The  English  Dra??ia.  187 

comedies  of  his  time.  It  is,  however,  by  his 
untiring  and  successful  efforts  to  re-instate 
the  Elizabethan  drama,  and  especially  Shake- 
speare, in  the  possession  of  the  stage,  and  the 
favor  of  the  critics  and  people,  that  he  has 
won  for  himself  unending  praise. 

Garrick  perceived  the  low  ebb  to  which 
the  drama  had  sunk.  He  perceived  the  neg- 
lect for  the  masters,  and  the  vitiated  taste  of 
the  people,  who  could  applaud  such  works  as 
"  The  Beggar's  Opera,"  and  "  George  Barn- 
well." Early  inspired  with  a  love  for  the 
theatre  and  what  was  best  in  it,  he  was  re- 
pelled by  the  roaring  cant  that  passed  for 
tragedy,  the  whining  grief,  the  unreal  terror 
and  love-making  then  common  to  the  stage. 
In  1740  the  young  ambitious  Garrick  deter- 
mined to  revive  Shakespeare  and  reform  the 
theatre.  He  made  his  first  appearance  as  an 
actor  under  the  name  of  Lyddal  at  Ipswich, 
assuming  the  character  of  "  Aboan  "  in  South- 
erne's  "  Oroonoko."  He  was  so  favorably  re- 
ceived that  he  shortly  risked  a  London  debut 
as  Richard  III.  This  took  place  at  Good- 
man's Fields,  and  was  a  tremendous  success. 
Garrick's  salary  at  this  time  was  ^5  a  week. 
From  this  time  on  his  success  was  assured. 
In    1747    Garrick    became    manager   of    the 


The  English  Drama. 


Drury  Lane  Theatre,  which  position  he  re- 
tained until  1776.  During  his  management 
he  produced  in  the  orignal  texts  twenty-four 
of  Shakespeare's  works. 

He  revived  a  number  of  the  Restoration 
plays,  after  having  made  suitable  alterations 
and  eliminations.  Amongst  these  plays  may 
be  narried  "  The  Rehearsal,"  "  Country  Wife," 
(called  by  Garrick  "  The  Country  Girl,") 
"  The  Mistake,"  "  The  Wonder,"  "  Mourning 
Bride,"  "  Venice  Preserved,"  etc.  Of  the 
Elizabethans,  Shakespeare,  Jonson  and 
Fletcher  were  the  favored  authors.  He  pro- 
duced of  the  contemporaneous  drama  Dr. 
Johnson's  "  Irene,"  which  failed  as  a  stage  rep- 
resentation; Younge's  tragedies,  "  The  Broth- 
ers "  (1719),  and  "  The  Revenge"  (1721), 
(neither  of  much  lasting  merit,  though  suffi- 
ciently successful  to  yieJd  Younge  a  profit  of 
^1,000,  which  he  gave  to  the  missionaries): 
Edward  Moore's  "  Gamester  "  (1753) ;  Glover'^ 
"Boadicea";  Whitehead's  tragedies,  "The 
Roman  Father"  (1750)  and  "  Creusa  "  (1754); 
both  highly  praised  in  their  day  ;  Dr.  Smol- 
lett's "  Reprisal,"  a  farce  ;  Home's  "  Doug- 
las"; Crisp's  "  Virginia";  Colman's  "Polly 
Honeycombe  "  and  "  The  Jealous  Wife,"  etc., 
also    his  own  numerous    farces  and    his  joint 


The  English  Drama.  189 

comedy  with  Colman,  "  The  Clandestine  Mar- 
riage." 

For  twenty-nine  years  his  theatre  was 
the  home  of  all  that  was  worthiest  in  the 
native  English  Drama.  He  revived  the  best 
of  former  ages,  and  encouraged  the  best  of 
his  own.  He  was  not  always  wise  in  his 
handling  of  Shakespeare's  works,  as  we  view 
them  to-day,  but  he  was  "  wise  in  his  genera- 
tion." In  1769  he  arranged  a  Shakespeare 
Jubilee  at  Stratford-upon-Avon,  and  after- 
wards represented  it  at  Drury  Lane  for 
ninety-two  successive  nights. 

A  list  of  his  own  works  would  include 
"  The  Clandestine  Marriage,"  "  Bon  Ton," 
"  The  Irish  Widow,"  "  Lilliput,"  "  Lethe," 
"  Farmer's  Return  from  London,"  "  The 
Guardian,"  etc.,  etc. 

He  retired  from  management  in  1776  ;  made 
his  final  appearance  as  "  Don  Felix,"  in  Mrs. 
Centlivre's  "  The  Wonder,"  June  10th,  1776; 
died  January  20th,  1779,  and  was  buried  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  David  Garrick,  a  good 
husband,  a  polished  gentleman,  a  great  actor, 
he  was  the  ornament  of  his  age,  and  the  re- 
former of  the  stage  and  dramatic  literature. 
He  found  the  theatre  at  its  lowest  ebb  and  he 
resigned  it  elevated  and   re-  invigorated   into 


190  The  English  Drama. 

the  hands  of  a  series  of  brilliant  writers. 
Garrick  wished  to  make  the  theatre  a  place 
of  learning  and  culture.  So  far  did  he  suc- 
ceed that  it  has  been  said  there  were  in  his 
day  four  estates,  the  King,  Lords,  Commons 
and  the  Drury  Lane  Theatre. 

A  name  intimately  associated  with  David 
Garrick's  is  that  of  George  Colman,  the 
elder  (1 732-1794).  A  writer  of  considerable 
merit  of  farces  and  comedies,  such  as  "  Polly 
Honeycombe  "  (1760),  "  The  Jealous  Wife" 
(1761),  and  "The  Clandestine  Marriage" 
(1766).  Colman  was  also,  for  some  time, 
joint  manager  of  Convent  Garden,  and  for 
many  years  manager  of  the  Haymarket 
Theatre.  While  at  Convent  Garden,  Colman 
produced  plays  by  Isaac  Bickerstaafe,  Arthur 
Murphy,  Mrs.  Inchbald,  etc.,  and  during  his 
managerial  career  Goldsmith's  "  She  Stoops 
to  Conquer,"  O'Keefe's  works  and  those  of 
his  son.  His  own  plays  were  strong  in  char- 
acter, and  were  aimed  at  fashionable  follies. 

The  dramatists  of  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  are  obscured  by  the 
radiance  emanating  from  one  great  name,  a 
name  that  belongs  alike  to  a  statesman,  an 
orator  and  a  dramatist,  Richard  Brinsley 
Sheridan.       Richard     Brinsley     (1751-1816) 


The  English  Drama.  191 

was  the  son  of  an  Irish  actor,  Thomas  Sheri- 
dan, and  a  famous  novelist,  Frances  Sheridan. 
He  was  born  in  Dublin,  and  was  well 
educated.  Early  in  life  he  eloped  with, 
secretly  married,  and  fought  two  duels  for  a 
beautiful  singer,  by  name  Linley. 

On  the  17th  of  January,  1775,  his  comedy, 
"  The  Rivals,"  was  produced  at  Convent  Gar- 
den. Owing  to  the  bad  rendering  of  Sir 
Lucius  O'Trigger  by  the  actor  who  assumed 
that  part,  the  play  failed  on  the  first  night  ; 
but  a  change  being  made  in  the  cast,  the 
comedy  became  the  great  favorite  it  has  re- 
mained ever  since. 

In  conjunction  with  his  father-in-law  and 
Dr.  Ford,  Sheridan  bought  Garrick's  interest 
in  Drury  Lane  in  the  year  1776. 

In  1777  appeared  "  The  School  for  Scandal," 
which  has  been  termed  the  best  comedy  in 
the  English  language.  "  The  Critic "  was 
brought  out  in  1779.  His  last  work,  largely 
a  translation  from  Kotzebue,  was   "  Pizarro  " 

(i779)- 

Sheridan  was  at  different  times  a  member  of 
Parliament,  an  under-secretary  of  state  and 
secretary  of  treasury.  It  was  Sheridan  that 
conducted  the  attack  in  the  celebrated 
Warren-Hastings  trial.     Famous  as  an  orator 


192  The  English  Drama. 

and  writer,  reckless  in  his  manner  of  life, 
ruined  by  the  burning  of  Drury  Lane,  he  died 
in  poverty  and  distress  in  1816,  and  was  buried 
in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Besides  the  plays  already  mentioned,  Sheri- 
dan was  the  author  of  a  popular  farce,  "  St. 
Patrick's  Day,"  and  an  opera  (music  by 
Linley,  Sheridan's  father-in-law),  "  The  Du- 
enna," both  produced  in  1775.  "  The  Duenna  " 
combines  the  merits  of  legitimate  comedy 
with  the  attractions  of  poetry  and  song,  and 
was  so  successful  as  to  be  given  seventy-five 
times  at  Convent  Garden  during  the  season. 

It  is  remarkable  that  many  of  our  best  come- 
dies have  been  written  by  very  young  men. 
All  of  Congreve's  plays  were  written  before 
he  was  twenty-five.  Farquhar  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty-nine.  Vanbrugh  was  only 
a  youth  when  he  planned  "  The  Relapse." 
Sheridan  wrote  "  The  Rivals"  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  and  "  The  School  for  Scandal  " 
at  twenty-six. 

However,  the  latter  play  had  been  long 
contemplated,  and  was  altered  and  re- 
written a  number  of  times  previous  to  its 
production,  the  part  of  Sir  Peter  Teasle 
having  been  a  rather  late  addition.  The 
principal  merit  of  the  play  lies  neither  in  the 


The  English   Drama.  193 

rather  slender  plot  nor  in  any  sympathy  we 
have  for  the  characters,  but  rather  in  the 
strikingly  natural  situations,  the  skillful  hand- 
ling of  the  piece,  the  constantly  brilliant  wit, 
the  animation,  the  sense  of  the  ridiculous  and 
the  finish  given  to  the  whole.  The  comedy  is 
a  triumph  of  art,  and  its  merit  is  only  exceeded 
by  its  popularity.  It  has  been  translated  into 
most  of  the  languages  of  Europe. 

"The  Critic,"  still  occasionally  given,  is  an 
excellent  farce,  written  on  the  model  of  Vil- 
lier's  famous  "  Rehearsal." 

Thompson's  successful  translation  frorn  the 
German  of  "The  Stranger,"  in  1798,  induced 
Sheridan  to  a  like  attempt.  In  1779,  there- 
fore, "  Pizarro "  (from  Kotzebue's  play)  was 
brought  out  at  Drury  Lane.  The  heroic  in- 
terest of  the  story,  and  the  splendor  of  the 
production,  made  it  popular,  but,  as  a  literary 
achievement,  it  detracted  rather  than  added 
to  Sheridan's  fame. 

The  ill-treatment  which  Oliver  Gold- 
smith (1728-1774)  received  at  the  hands  of 
London  managers  undoubtedly  dampened 
the  ardor  of  one  of  the  drama's  most  gifted 
votaries.  Garrick  looked  coldly  on  his  first 
play,  "  The  Good-Natured  Man,"  and  "  She 
Stoops  to  Conquer  "  met  with  but  little  favor 


194  The  English  Drama. 

at  he  hands  of  the  elder  Colman,  who  pro- 
duced it  only  under  protest,  March  15th, 
1773.  In  consequence  of  the  reception  ac- 
corded him  by  critics  and  managers,  Gold- 
smith gave  up  writing  for  the  stage.  He  was 
born  in  1728,  of  Irish  parents,  in  straightened 
circumstances,  and  was  educated  at  Trinity 
College,  Dublin.  He  led  an  adventurer's  life 
in  England  and  on  the  continent  ;  acquired 
fame  as  poet  and  dramatist,  and  died  in  1774. 
He  was  buried  in  the  yard  of  Temple  Church, 
but  has  a  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
George  Colman,  the  younger  (1762-1836) 
belongs  equally  to  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  He  may  justly  be  considered  as  the 
connecting  link  between  these  two  periods, 
but  as  his  best  works  were  written  before 
1800,  and  as  his  memory  is  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  that  of  Garrick,  Sheridan,  etc., 
we  will  speak  of  him  here.  Both  the  elder 
and  younger  Colman  were  actors,  managers 
and  authors,  the  son  excelling  his  father, 
however,  in  the  last  named  capacity.  The 
younger  Colman's  first  play,  "  The  Female 
Dramatist  (1782),  a  farce,  was  a  failure.  His 
second,  "  Two  to  One  "  (1784),  a  comedy,  was 
more  succesful.     "  Inkle  and  Yarico  "  (1787), 


The  English  Drama.  195 

"Way  and  Means"  (1788),  "The  Iron  Chest  " 
(1796),  a  poetic  melodrama;  "The  Heir-at- 
Law  "  (1797),  "  The  Poor  Gentleman  "  (1800), 
and  "John  Bull"  (1802),  were  all  excellent 
productions,  and  became  established  favorites, 
though  one  of  them,  "  The  Iron  Chest,"  was 
not  favorably  received  on  its  first  perform- 
ance. Colman's  best  work  was  undoubtedly 
his  comedy,  "  The  Heir-at-Law,"  which  may 
be  ranked  amongst  the  finest  of  its  kind  in 
our  dramatic  literature.  It  still  holds  the 
stage,  and  its  popularity  continues  undimin- 
ished. This  is  largely  due  to  the  highly 
amusing  and  original  character  of  the  learned 
tutor,  Dr.  Pangloss.  About  1798  Colman 
became  interested  in  spectacular  pieces  and 
pantomine,  and  before  1800  had  produced 
"  Blue  '  Beard,"  "Children  in  the  Wood," 
"Obi,"  etc. 

O'Keefe's  "  Wild  Oats,"  Morton's  "  Speed 
the  Plow,"  *and  Cumberland's  "  The  West 
Indian,"  all  meritorious  comedies,  belong  to 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


V 


196  The  JEtiglish  Drama. 


VI. 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 

It  is  with  extreme  diffidence  that  I  ap- 
proach the  concluding  chapter  of  my  work. 
To  deal  with  affairs  of  the  remote  past  is 
usually  a  safe  undertaking.  For  here  time 
has  furnished  landmarks  to  guide  and  records 
to  confirm  the  student  in  his  assertions. 
But  the  nearer  he  approaches  the  present, 
the  more  unstable  does  he  find  his  supports 
and  the  fewer  his  authorities.  Till  at  last 
he  is  forced  boldly  to  draw  his  own 
conclusions  from  given  facts,  and  look  to  the 
world  for  that  approval  or  rejection  of  his 
statements,  which  he  can  find  nowhere  else. 
It  is  unfortunately  true  that  it  is  well-nigh 
impossible  to  view  the  present  with  an  im- 
partial eye,  and  the  historian  of  his  own  time 
is  invariably  unjust  to  some  one.  It  is  only 
after  a  certain  time  has  elapsed,  when  our 
sympathies  have  ceased  to  be  so  warm  that 
they  blind  our  judgment,  that  we  can  com- 
ment with  fairness.     It  is  this  predicament  in 


The  English  Drain  a.  197 

which  I  find  myself.  Though  much  that  I 
have  to  treat  of  is  sufficiently  remote  to  be 
handled  safely,  yet  in  attempting  to  bring  my 
subject  down  to  the  present  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  which  I  must  speak,  whose  treatment 
by  me  may  be  censured.  I  trust,  however, 
that  my  zeal  and  my  desire  to  be  just  may 
steer  me  safely  past  the  rocks  which  beset  the 
pilot  in  comparatively  unexplored  seas. 

We  have  said  the  year  1800  found  the  stage 
in  possession  of  a  brilliant  comedy,  a  medi- 
ocre tragedy,  a  picturesque  melodrama,  and 
an  infant  opera.  Original  comedy  after 
Tobin's  "  Honeymoon,"  and  one  or  two  final 
productions  of  Colman's  gave  way  to  the 
farces  of  Poole  and  Planche  for  some  twenty 
years.  Then  appeared  the  greatest  dramatist 
of  his  age,  James  Sheridan  Knowles,  who 
enriched  comedy  and  tragedy  alike,  and 
whose  works,  though  considered  a  trifle  old- 
fashioned  and  theatrical  to-day,  nevertheless 
continue  to  hold  the  stage  and  the  public 
heart.  Knowles  returned  boldly  to  blank 
verse  in  his  comedies,  and  was  eminently 
successful  in  a  rather  hazardous  undertaking. 
For  verse  had  long  been  confined  to  serious 
and  prose  assigned  to  lighter  efforts.  Nor 
was  he  less  successful  in  tragedy.     Being  an 


198  The  English  Drama. 

actor,  his  works  were  better  plays  than  those 
of  his  immediate  predecessors  in  this  field, 
Joanna  Baillie,  Walter  Savage  Landor  and 
Henry  Hart  Milman.  Nor  did  his  works 
suffer  by  comparison  with  such  contempo- 
raries as  Byron,  De  Vere  and  Lytton,  though 
he  can  not  be  said  to  have  equaled  in  poetic 
merit  at  least  Browning.  Indeed  the  drama 
may  be  said  to  have  experienced  a  compara- 
tively brilliant  florescence  during  the  thirty 
years  included  between  1820  and  1850. 

The  nineteenth  century's  first  score  of  years 
had  been,  in  a  dramatic  way,  uneventful, 
broken  only  here  and  there  by  an  entertaining 
comedy,  or  a  passable  tragedy,  the  greater 
number  of  plays  given  being,  however,  farces 
by  Poole  or  Planche,  or  revivals  of  former 
successes.  This  was  due,  no  doubt,  largely 
to  the  wars  in  which  Great  Britain  was 
engaged  with  France  and  America.  With 
peace  sprang  up  a  coterie  of  vigorous  and 
gifted  play-wrights.  This  second  dramatic 
period  beheld  the  production  of  such  come- 
dies as  "  The  Hunchback,"  "  Love,"  "  The 
Love  Chase,"  u  London  Assurance,"  and  such 
tragedies  as  "  Virginius,"  "  Richelieu,"  "  Ri- 
enzi,"  "  Damon  and  Pythias,"  "  Werner,"  and 
•'  Blot  in  the  'Scutcheon."     By  the  side  of  the 


The  English  Drama.  199 

more  pronounced  dramatic  types,  and  between 
them,  appeared  the  domestic,  the  "  Robert- 
son," comedy,  or  what  might  be  called,  for  so 
it  in  time  has  come  to  be,  the  comedy-drama. 
With  the  retirement  of  Knowles,  and  the 
death  of  several  of  his  distinguished  contem- 
poraries, dramatic'poetry  perceptibly  waned. 
Comedy  returned  once  more  to  prose,  and 
tragedy,  save  as  a  literary  exotic,  ceased  to 
exist.  From  time  to  time  some  great  poet 
writes  a  tragedy — for  the  library.  It  seldom 
reaches  the  stage.  Tennyson's  attempts  have 
not  been  successful.  Browning,  belonging  to 
an  earlier  period,  was,  even  in  his  own  time, 
only  partially  so.  To-day  the  tragedy  of  the 
past  engrosses  the  stage — and  yet  not  wholly 
so.  An  American  poet  has  arisen  who  has 
already  enriched  our  stage  with  two  excellent 
works,  "  Pendragon  "  and  "Ganelon."  Let 
us  hope  that  Mr.  Younge's  efforts  are  only  a 
promise  of  what  is  to  come. 

1850-1890  represents  a  period  of  great  pro- 
ductivity, if  not  of  surpassing  merit.  Scott, 
Dickens,  Twain  and  other  successful  novelists 
have  had  their  works  contorted  in  ruthless 
dramatizations.  The  French,  German  and 
lately  the  Scandinavian  drama  has  been  trans- 
lated and  adapted.     Brougham's  burlesques 


\e  English  Drama. 


and  Gilbert's  poetic  fantasies  have  appeared. 
Comic  opera  has  sprung  into  wonderful  pop- 
ularity. For  a  time  French  sensationalism  held 
the  boards.  This  gave  way  to  the  combined 
forces  of  the  English  melodrama,  the  German 
farce  and  the  American  comedy-drama  in  its 
various  forms.  Prior  to  1850  America  could 
lay  little  claim  to  an  indigenous  drama. 
Whatever  was  meritorious  was  imported,  and 
the  theatre  was  provincial.  Brougham's 
"  Pocahontas,"  in  185-,  was  the  signal  for  the 
awakening  of  a  native  drama.  Gradually  the 
development  has  gone  on,  until  to-day 
America  boasts  a  host  of  vigorous  and 
ambitious  play-wrights.  We  point  with  pride 
to  the  names  of  Howard,  Mackaye,  Young, 
Campbell,  and  count  amongst  the  best  produc- 
tions, "  The  Danites,"  "My  Partner,"  "  The 
Banker's  Daughter,"  "The  Henrietta,"  "She- 
nandoah," "  Ganelon,"  "  The  Wife  "  and 
"  The  Senator."  To-day  America  not  merely 
imports,  but  exchanges  dramatic  commodi- 
ties. 

The  century  was  ushered  in,  as  we  have 
mentioned  before,  by  Colman's  "The  Poor 
Gentleman,"  presently  followed  by  "  John 
Bull,"  both  excellent  comedies. 

In   1804  that  unfortunate  dramatist,  John 


The  English  Drama.  201 

Tobin  (1770- 1804),  who  had  spent  the  best 
part  of  his  life  writing  plays,  only  to  have  them 
rejected,  died.  Shortly  afterwards  his  comedy, 
"The  Honeymoon,"  was  produced,  with  what 
favor  is  well  known.  The  play  is  by  no  means 
a  perfect  one,  showing,  indeed,  a  lamentable 
lack  of  originality,  but  its  popularity  has 
been  ever  considerable.  There  is  an  undeni- 
able air  of  imitation  to  a  half  dozen  standard 
plays,  but  the  imitations  are  so  cleverly 
executed  that  the  whole  may  well  be  said  to 
constitute  a  new  work. 

Joanna  Baillie,  Walter  Savage  Landor, 
and  Henry  Hart  Milman  are  the  names 
which  represent  whatever  of  merit  was 
t achieved  in  the  field  of  tragedy  during  the 
first  twenty  years  of  this  century.  None  of 
them  experienced  great  success  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  their  works,  though  Milman's 
"  Fazio  "  was  favorably  received  at  Convent 
Garden  in  1815,  and  several  of  Miss  Baillie's 
plays  were  produced  and  approved  before 
critical. audiences.  Landor's  "  Count  Julian  " 
(1812),  while  a  magnificent  poem,  is  deficient 
in  ease  and  continuity,  and  quite  unfit  for 
presentation.  Miss  Baillie  wrote  a  series  of 
plays  illustrative  of  the  passions,  as  "  De 
Montfort,"  a  tragedy  on  Hatred,  and  "  Basil," 


The  English  Drama. 


a  tragedy  on  Love.  Her  object,  undoubtedly 
a  highly  moral  one,  was  to  picture  the  begin- 
nings, progress  and  results  of  a  passion. 
Even  with  John  Kemble  and  Mrs.  Siddons  in 
the  leading  roles  her  plays  did  not  become 
popular,  showing  the  great  disadvantage  a 
writer,  however  gifted,  labors  under  when 
not  acquainted  with  the  requirements  of  the 
stage: 

John  Poole  (1786-1872),  and  James  Robin- 
son Planche  (1 796-1880),  are  the  two  names 
most  intimately  acquainted  with  the  farce 
and  light  comedy  of  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  best  known  works  of 
the  former  are  his  "  Hamlet  Travestie  "  (1810), 
"Paul  Pry,"  a  farce,  (1825),  and  "  Patrician 
and  Parvenu,"  a  comedy  (1835).  Poole 
lived  to  an  advanced  age,  dying  almost  for- 
gotten. Planche  composed  more  than  two 
hundred  pieces  for  the  stage  of  the  lightest 
possible  description.  In  1818  his  burlesque 
"  Amorosa,  or  King  of  Little  Britian,"  was 
produced  successfully  at  Drury  Lane.  In 
1828  appeared  his  fifty-fifth  and  best  play, 
"  Charles  XII."  In  addition  to  his  dramatic 
efforts  he  has  published  fairy  tales,  romances, 
and  a       history  of  British    costumes  (1834). 

We  have  said  that  amongst  the  dramatists 


The  English  Drama.  203 


of  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Sheridan  shone  forth  resplendently  ;  that  by 
his  brilliancy  he  obscured  the  merits  of  his 
fellows.  In  a  somewhat  less  degree  the  same 
statement  is  applicable  in  his  time,  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  James 
Sheridan  Knowles  (1784-1862).  Certain  it 
is  that  in  the  sustaining  of  dramatic  interest 
and  poetic  value,  and  at  the  same  time  in  ob- 
taining popular  approval,  he  excels  his  con- 
temporaries, however  he  may  fall  below  them 
at  any  particular  point. 

Knowles  was,  born  in  Cork,  Ireland.  He 
was  the  son  of  James  Knowles,  who  was  the 
nephew  of  Thomas  Sheridan,  therefore  a 
cousin  of  Richard  Brinsley  Sher;dan.  James 
Knowles  was  an  elocution  teacher  and  an 
author  of  a  Pronouncing  English  Dictionary. 
His  son  at  the  age  of  twelve  wrote  plays  for 
the  amusement  of  his  companions  and  him- 
self. At  twenty-two  young  Knowles  became 
an  actor.  At  thirty-one  he  produced  Caius 
Gracchus"  (1815),  a  tragedy,  in  Belfast,  Ire- 
land. In  1820,  with  Macready  in  the  title 
role,  "  Virginius  "  was  brought  out  at  Con- 
vent Garden,  and  James  Sheridan  Knowles 
became  one  of  the  leading  play-wrights  in 
England.     In  the  following  twenty  years  he 


204  The  English  Drama. 

produced  at  one  or  another  of  the  leading 
London  theatres  the  historical  play,  "  Alfred 
the  Great  "  (1831),  the  tragedy  "  John  of  Pro- 
cida  "  (1840),  and  the  comedies,  under  which 
head  we  group  all  his  other  works  :  "  William 
Tell"  (1825),  "The  Hunchback"  (1833), 
"  The  Wife"  (1833),  "The  Beggar  of  Bethnal 
Green"  (1834),  "The  Daughter"  (1836), 
"The  Love  Chase"  (1837),  "Love"  (1837), 
"Woman's  Wit"  (1838),  "The  Maid  of 
Mariendorpt"  (1838),  "Old  Maids"  (1841), 
"The  Rose  of  Aragon "  (1842),  and  "The 
Secretary  "  (184-). 

His  plays  had  the  advantage  of  such  inter- 
preters as  Macready,  Charles  Kean  and  Ellen 
Tree.  In  "  The  Hunchback  "  and  "  The  Wife  " 
he  assumed  the  leading  roles,  playing  Master 
Walter  in  the  former,  and  Julian  St.  Pierre 
in  the  latter. 

He  made  a  successful  tour  of  the  United 
States  before  abandoning  the  stage,  which  he 
did  in  1845.  He  became  a  Baptist  minister 
and  novelist.  Several  sermons  attest  the  first 
fact  and  two  novels,  "  George  Lovel "  and 
"  Henry  Fortescue,"  the  latter.  In  1849  he 
was  granted  a  pension  of  ^200,  which  pro- 
tected his  old  age  from  want. 

Knowles    excels    undoubtedly    in    his    love 


The  English  Drama.  205 

scenes.  He  has  an  infinite  amount  of  tender- 
ness, a  high  conception  of  the  marriage  rela- 
tion, a  noble  morality,  considerable  humor  and 
no  small  fund  of  pathos.  He  is  in  sympathy 
with  the  human  heart  and  its  emotions,  and 
consequently  will  receive  popular  approval 
always.  His  poetry  is  smooth,  elegant,  and 
often  beautiful.  His  verse  is  somewhat  mono- 
tonous, though  always  pleasing.  He  is  at  times 
too  wordy.  His  knowledge  of  stage-effect  is 
constantly  visible,  in  fact  in  places  uncom- 
fortably so,  for  it  has  caused  a  theatrical 
coloring  that  is  not  at  all  times  pleasant. 

I  have  before  had  occasion  to  speak  of  a 
man  raised  to  celebrity  in  dramatic  literature 
by  a  single  play.  Somewhat  more  than  a 
century  after  Addison's  "  Cato,"  appeared 
John  Banim's  (1 798-1842)  tragedy  of  "  Damon 
and  Pythias."  The  play,  with  Macready  and 
Kemble  in  the  leading  roles,  met  with  the 
warmest  enthusiasm.  It  rewarded  its  young 
Irish  author  (Banim  was  only  in  his  twenty- 
fourth  year)  with  fame,  which  he  unfortun- 
ately did  nothing  more  to  deserve  He  died 
in  poverty,  a  government  pension  being  his 
chief  support  in  his  last  years. 

To  that  class  of  writers  whose  works  belong 
wholly  to    the  library,  we    must    assign    Sir 


2o6  •      The  English  Drama. 

Aubrey  De  Vere  (1788-1846),  the  Irish  poet. 
His  works  contain  three  poetical  historical 
dramas,  "Julian,  the  Apostate  "  (1822),  "  The 
Duke  of  Mercia  "  (1823),  and  "  Mary  Tudor" 
(1844).     They  are  of  no  particular  merit. 

Mary  Russell  Mitford  (1786-1855)  is  an 
authoress  of  several  excellent  plays,  one  at 
least  of  sufficient  merit  to  commend  it  to  a 
tragedian  of  our  own  day.  Her  blank-verse 
dramas  include  "  Julian  "  (1823),  "  Foscari  " 
(1826),  "  Rienzi  "  (1828),  "  Charles  I.,"  and  a 
number  of  others.  "  Rienzi,"  a  powerful  if 
somewhat  gloomy  tragedy,  is  the  best  and 
most  popular  of  her  works. 

That  erratic  poet,  George  Gordon,  Lord 
Byron  (1 788-1824),  has  left  several  dramas, 
three  of  which  are  tragedies,  and  one  he 
called  a  mystery  play.  "  The  Two  Foscari," 
an  historical  tragedy  (1821),  was  intended  not 
to  be  acted,  but  to  be  read.  Like  "  Sarda- 
napalus,"  "  The  Two  Foscari  "  is  a  success 
neither  as  a  poem  nor  as  a  play  ;  being  too 
heavy  and  dull  for  the-  one,  and  too  verbose 
and  ill-constructed  for  the  other.  His  plays 
are  too  solemn  and  lacking  in  action  to  be 
favorites  on  the  stage.  They  were  most 
severely  criticized  on  their  appearance. 
"  Werner  "  (1822)  alone  proved    successful  in 


Hie  English  Drama.  207 

representation.  And  this  play  Lord  Byron, 
having  abandoned  the  classical  unities,  stated 
expressly  was  not  suited  or  prepared  for  the 
stage.  "  Cain,"  except  in  topic,  has  little 
resemblance  to  the  old  Mystery  Plays.  "  The 
Deformed  Transformed  M  (1821)  is  a  feeble 
variation  of  the  old  Faustus  legend.  "  Wer- 
ner "  was  successfully  revived  by  Henry 
Irving  in  recent  years. 

Douglas  William  Jerrold  (1803-1857)  was 
successively  sailor,  printer,  author  and  mana- 
ger. His  first  comedy,  "  More  Frightened 
than  Hurt,"  was  written  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
It  remained  unread  in  the  desk  of  a  London 
manager  for  two  years,  when  it  was  perused 
and  produced  successfully  at  Sadler's  Wells, 
in  1821.  "  Black-Eyed  Susan,"  a  nautical 
play,  brought  out  in  1829,  at  the  Surrey 
Theatre,  ran  for  over  three  hundred  nights, 
although  its  author  received  but  seventy 
pounds  foi*  it.  Amongst  his  other  plays  may 
be  mentioned  "  The  Devil's  Ducat,"  "  The 
Rent  Day,"  "  Nell  Gwynne "  and  "  Beau 
Nash."  In  1841  Jerrold  became  a  contributor 
to  Punch,  where  his  "  Caudle  Lectures  " 
brought  him  considerable  fame. 

Edward  Bulwer  Lytton  (1805-1873).  Lord 
Lytton,  best   known   as  a   novelist,  made  his 


2o8  The  EnglL,     Drama. 


first  attempt  at  drarm  ic  writing  in  1836, 
when  he  produced  "  T  e  Duchess  de  Val- 
liere,"  which  failed.  His  subsequent  plays, 
"The  Lady  of  Lyons,"  "Richelieu"  and 
"  Money,"  were  highly  <  accessful,  and  are 
still  frequently  g;ven  b)  our  actors  of  the 
"legitimate."  Though  the  blank  verse  of 
"The  Lady  of  Lyons"  ard  "Richelieu"  is 
somewhat  florid,  the  charac  rs  and  situations 
are  strong  and  dramatic,  and,  in  the  hands  of 
talented  actors,  extremely  ef  ective. 

Special    mention    should    be    made  of    a 
manager  whose  enterprise  was  so  p-reat  that 
instead  of  yielding  his  theatre  V 
of  foreign    plays,  or  adaptation 
novels,    encouraged    and     fost<  > 

effort    by   producing  annually 
Benjamin   Webster,   himself    an 
some    merit,   became    manager      t  Aay- 

market  Theatre  in  1837.  He  b;ou.,nt  out 
at  great  expense  the  plays  of  Bulwer, 
Knowles,  Jerrold,  and  others,  and  dra- 
matic literature  owes  not  a  little  to  his  liberal 
management.  At  his  theatre,  Macready, 
Wallack,  Farren,  Miss  Faucit  and  other 
famous  actors  appeared. 

Our  century  has  beheld  a  single  Elizabethan 
dramatic  poet,  and   it   has  not  proved  itself 


The  Eh     ish  Drama.  209 


worthy  of  him.  R*  ^ert  Browning  (1812- 
1889)  possessed  all  c  the  genius  and  more  of 
the  refinement  necessary  to  place  his  name 
amongst  our  great  ^dramatists  of  the  Shake- 
spearean era.  H&  lacke<jl,  unfortunately, 
their  practical  kno  ;ledge  cjf  the  stage.  Also 
it  is  to  be  regretteu  that  in  the  age  in  which 
he  wrote  the  theatre  was  sought  less  for  in- 
struction than  ..itertainment,  and  poetic 
plays  to  be  attractive  had  also  to  be  theatri- 
cal. His  psychological  studies,  however  they 
might  be  appreciated  to-day,  were  entirely 
unsuited  for  his,  audiences  of  forty  years  ago. 
F  k  poets  have  reasoned  so  well  in 

uch  tenderness,  such  a  delicate 
an  nght  and  wrong, 

in     182  in  the  'Scutcheon  "  (1843)  we 

a  perfect  drama  ;  all  the  fire  and 
gci.  Elizabethan,  softened  and  refined, 

howeve.  ;uy  our  nineteenth  century  philoso- 
phy. Tpe  y,ery  youthful  age  of  the  heroine 
Mildred,  is  a  defect,  undoubtedly,  but  such  a 
defect  as  a  greater  poet  than  Browning  is  guilty 
of.  This  but  serves,  however,  to  display  more 
fully  the  other  beauties  of  the  piece.  There 
is  nothing  of  its  kind  more  lovely  than  Mer- 
ton's  serenade.  "  The  Blot  in  the  'Scutcheon  " 
was  produced  in   1843   at  Drury  Lane,  Lon- 


The  English  Drama. 


don  ;  afterwards  played  with  some  success  in 
the  United  States  by  Lawrence  Barrett. 

Of  Browning's  plays,  "Pauline"  and  "Pa- 
racelsus "  were  published  before  1837,  in  which 
year  his  tragedy  "  Stafford  "  failed  in  repre- 
sentation. "  Pippa  Passes"  appeared  in 
1841  ;  "King  Victor  and  King  Charles" 
(1842);  "The  Return  of  the  Druses"  and 
"A  Blot  in  the  'Scutcheon"  (1843)  J  "Colom- 
be's  Birthday  (1844);  "  Luria "  and  "A 
Soul's  Tragedy"  (1845). 

John  Baldwin  Buckstone  (1802-1879)  was 
a  well-known  actor  and  dramatist  both  in 
England  and  America.  His  plays,  .mostly 
comedies  and  farces,  number  more  'than  two 
hundred,  many  of  which  are  still  great  favor- 
ites. The  most  famous  are  "  Married  Life," 
"  Single  Life,"  "  Rough  Diamond,"  "  Good 
for  Nothing,"  "  Flowers  of  the  Forest," 
"  Irish  Lion  "  and  "  Jack  Sheppherd." 

John  Brougham  (1810-1880)  adds  one  more 
name  to  the  list  of  clever  Irish  play-wrights. 
Brougham  was  intended  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession, but  became  an  actor,  first  in  London, 
afterwards  in  America.  During  his  career  he 
managed  a  theatre  in  Boston  and  two  in  New 
York  ;  the  Bowery  (1856-7),  and  Brougham's 
Lyceum,      afterwards     Wallacks      (1850-2). 


The  English  Drama. 


The  latter  he  built,  but  surrendered  the 
management  of  after  two  seasons.  He  was 
the  author  of  various  comedies,  dramas  and 
extravaganzas,  the  most  celebrated  of  which 
are  "  Pocahontas,"  "  Romance  and  Reality," 
"  My  Cousin  German,"  "  Dombey  and  Son  " 
(dramatization),  and  "  Bleak  House  "  (drama- 
tization.) He  also  published  books  of  stories 
under  the  titles  of  "  A  Basket  of  Chips,"  and 
"  The  Bunsby  Papers." 

Dion  Boucicault  (1822-  )  was  born  in 
Dublin,  where  his  father,  a  French  refugee, 
was  a  merchant.  Upon  being  sent  to  London 
to  be  educated  as  a  civil  engineer,  he  became 
instead  a  dramatist  and  actor.  In  1841  his 
first  and  probably  his  best  comedy,  "  London 
Assurance,"  was  produced  successfully  at 
Convent  Garden,  London.  He  devoted  him- 
self to  literature  and  the  stage,  and  has 
written,  during  his  long  and  prosperous 
career,  upward  of  one  hundred  pieces.  The 
plots  of  Boucicault's  plays  are  seldom 
original.  His  excellence  as  a  dramatist 
consists  rather  in  action  and  dialogue,  which 
is  always  clever  and  often  novel.  His  melo- 
dramas and  his  Irish  characters  are  a  vast 
improvement  on  their  predecessors  in  these 
fields.     In  fact,  Boucicault  has  elevated  them 


The  English  Drama. 


by  introducing  a  life,  interest  and  naturalness 
they  did  not  possess  before.  His  construc- 
tive power  and  knowledge  of  stage  effect  is  of 
the  best.  A  list  of  Dion  Boucicault's  popular 
pieces  will  include  "  The  Corsican  Brothers," 
"  The  Willow  Copse,"  "  Jessie  Brown,"  Col- 
leen Bawn,"  "  Arrah-na-Pogue,"  "  The  Long 
Strike,"  "  Hunted  Down,"  "  Rip  Van  Winkle," 
"  Peep  O'Day,"  "  The  Shaugran,"  "  Led 
Astray  "  and  "  The  Jilt."  As  an  actor  Bouci- 
cault's fame  rests  chiefly  on  the  portrayal  of 
eccentric  and  Irish  characters.  He  has 
written,  besides  his  plays,  many  newspaper 
articles  on  dramatic  subjects.  It  is  largely 
due  to  his  influence  that  dramatists  are  to-day 
properly  remunerated,  which  they  were  not 
at  the  beginning  of  this  century. 

A  prolific  and  popular  play-wright,  one  who, 
in  his  day,  ranked  amongst  the  best,  was 
Tom  Taylor  (1817-1880).  As  a  student  at  col- 
lege he  distinguished  himself  by  carrying  off 
gold  medals,  prizes  and  the  highest  honors, 
and  he  became  a  fellow  of  Cambridge.  After 
leaving  his  Alma  Mater,  he  was  for  two  years 
Professor  of  English  Literature  at  University 
College,  London.  He  studied  law,  con- 
tributed to  the  papers,  and  before  1850 
became  a  noted  author.     Like  some  others  of 


The  English  Drama.  213 

his  contemporaries  he  excelled  in  the  number 
rather  than  the  originality  of  his  works, 
having  produced,  alone  or  in  conjunction  with 
others,  more  than  one  hundred  pieces.  His 
greatest  desire  in  constructing  a  play,  was 
that  it  should  act  well.  In  this  he  was 
usually  successful,  his  knowledge  of  the  stage 
and  its  demands  being  of  great  service  to 
him.  His  language,  though  never  surpris- 
ingly brilliant,  is  effective.  His  characters 
are  natural  and  consistent.  His  blank  verse 
historical  dramas,  as  "  'Twixt  Axe  and 
Crown  "(1870),  are  not  so  successful  as  his 
other  works.  "  The  Ticket  of  Leave  Man,"  a 
version  of  "  Le  Retour  de  Melun  "  ;  "  Lady 
Clancarty "  (1874),  an  original  play;  "  The 
Fool's  Revenge,"  from  Victor  Hugo's  "  Le 
Roi  s'amuse  "  (same  subject  as  Verdi's  "  Rigo- 
letto  ")  ;  "  Our  American  Cousin,"  a  play  with 
a  peculiar  history  (a  minor  part  was  raised  to 
such  prominence  by  a  clever  actor  as  to  for- 
ever overshadow  all  the  rest)  ;  "  Still  Waters 
Run  Deep,"  "The  Overland  Route,"  "An 
Unequal  Match,"  are  amongst  Taylor's  best 
known  dramas. 

Thomas  William  Robertson  (1829-187 i) 
has  giver  his  name  to  what  is  known  as  tin 
"  Robertson  "    comedy,    as    being    its    most 


214  The  English  Drama. 


fitting  exponent,  and,  indeed  to  a  degree,  its 
originator.  His  works  are  serious  comedies, 
or  what  we  to-day  call  comedy-dramas; 
plays  in  which  the  light  and  shade  is  equally 
mingled,  where  the  affairs  treated  of  are  of 
everyday  occurrence,  the  people  such  as  we 
see  around  us,  and  the  conclusion  usually  a 
happy  one,  the  idea  of  the  whole  being  to 
impress  some  moral  lesson  or  discuss  some 
social  question.  Robertson  was  for  a  time  an 
actor  in  his  father's  company,  a  travelling 
one.  In  185 1  his  first  piece,  "  A  Night's  Ad- 
venture," was  produced.  In  i860  Robertson 
settled  in  London,  and  wrote  his  series  of 
dramas  to  which  he  owes  his  fame  :  "  David 
Garrick,"  "  Society,"  "  Ours,"  "  Caste," 
"  Play,"  "  School,"  "  M.  P."  and  "  War." 

Of  those  play-wrights  who  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  Robertson  comedies,  H.  J. 
Byron  and  A.  W.  Pinero  are  the  most  con- 
spicuous. Byron  was  more  inclined  to  farcial 
elements  thai>  Robertson,  and  made  his  most 
lasting  success  with  "  Our  Boys"  (1878). 
Pinero  has  shown  a  more  serious  tendency,  and 
his  plays  are  superior  to  those  of  his  master, 
revealing  a  strength  in  which  Robertson  is 
lacking.  Pinero's  chief  merit,  the  proper 
harmony  between  action   and   dialogue,  has 


The  English  Drama.  215 

been  taught  him,  no  doubt,  as  an  actor. 
"  The  Money  Spinner,"  "  Sweet  Lavender  " 
and  "  The  Weaker  Sex,"  are  the  works  by 
which  he  has  acquired  his  enviable  reputa- 
tion. 

From  the  early  part  of  the  century  the 
meretricious  habit  of  supplying  the  deficiency 
of  dramatic  material  by  dramatizing  cele- 
brated novels,  had  been  growing  in  popu- 
larity, until  it  threatened  to  put  a  stop  to  all 
original  effort.  The  works  of  Scott,  Dickens, 
Lytton,  Mrs.  Henry  Wood  and  others  were 
hacked,  twisted  and  mutilated  for  stage  pur- 
poses. This  lamentable  practice  has  pre- 
vailed even  to  our  day.  It  is  rare  that  a 
novel,  however  dramatic,  contains  more  than 
an  idea  for  a  good  play,  and  the  book  invari- 
ably suffers  by  the  dramatization,  while  the 
stage  seldom  gains  anything  by  the  transac- 
tion. However,  the  celebrity  of  a  widely- 
read  novel  conduces  largely  to  increase  the 
receipts  of  a  play  taken  from  it,  and  managers 
of  the  last  fifty  years  have  often  found  it 
profitable  to  produce  such  plays.  Amongst 
those  novelists  whose  pens  as  well  as  books 
have  contributed  to  the  stage,  are  Charles 
Reade  and  Wilkie  Collins.  The  works  of 
both    may    be   termed    sensational,    yet,    un- 


216  The  English  Drama. 

doubtedly  containing  many  excellencies. 
Reade  and  Taylor's  joint  work,  "  Masks  and 
Faces"  (1854),  and  Reade's  dramatization  of 
Zola's  u  L'Assommoir,"  which  he  called 
"Drink"  (1879),  are  his  chief  claims  to  re- 
membrance. Wilkie  Collins's  plays  were 
all  taken  from  his  famous  novels.  Though 
severely  criticized,  they  attained  considerable 
popularity  and  contain  much  good  material. 
•'  The  New  Magdalen,"  •'  Man  and  Wife  "  and 
"  The  Woman  in  White,"  are  his  best  known 
works. 

Dramatic  poetry,  whose  chief  aim  is  literary, 
and  which  has  rarely  succeeded  in  representa- 
tion, has  never  been  without  its  supporters 
throughout  the  century.  Joanna  Baillie, 
Landor,  Milman,  De  Vere,  Byron,  Brown- 
ing, Swinburne,  Tennyson,  form  a  chain  of 
names  extending  over  a  period  of  ninety 
years  from  1800  to  1890.  Some  of  them  never 
produced,  though  they  published  their  works, 
and  none  of  them  achieved  any  considerable 
popularity  as  dramatists. 

Algernon  Charles  Swinburne  (1837-  ) 
presents  the  to-day  rather  unusual  spectacle 
of  an  English  poet  modeling  his  efforts  on  the 
Greeks  ;  and  what  is  still  more  unusual,  suc- 
cessfully.    Swinburne  is  a  poet,   in  speaking 


The  English  Drama.  217 

of  whom  a  commentator  is  obliged  to  judge 
for  himself,  so  diverse  are  the  opinions  of 
critics.  His  admirers  being  excessive  in  their 
praise,  and  his  enemies  in  their  detraction  ; 
making  the  one  appear  adulation  and  the 
other  abuse.  In  1865  Swinburne  achieved 
fame  by  the  publishing  of  his  classical  tragedy 
"  Atalanta  in  Calydon,"  a  unique  and  admi- 
rable effort.  In  1876  "  Erechtheus,"  a  second 
classical  drama,  appeared.  The  dramatic 
trilogy  in  which  the  Queen  of  Scots  is  con- 
demned by  the  poet,  "  Chastelard  "  (1865), 
"Bothwell"  (1874),  and  "Mary  Stuart" 
(1881),  is  particularly  interesting.  "  Marino 
Faliero  "(1885),  is  perhaps  superior  to  Byron's 
tragedy  on  the  same  subject.  "  The  Queen 
Mother,"  "  Rosamond,"  appeared  in  i860. 
"  Locrine  "  in  1887. 

Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson  (1809-  ),  com- 
pletes the  above  list  of  dramatic  poets.  He 
is  the  representative  of  the  poetry  of  his  age, 
the  Victorian.  No  one  of  this  century  has 
equaled  him  in  popularity  and  prosperity  in 
his  own  province.  It  is  unnecessary  to  speak 
of  the  manifold  beauties  of  his  verse  since 
they  are  known  so  well  throughout  the  Eng- 
lish-reading world.  It  is  sufficient  for  our 
purpose  here  to  say  that  his  best  efforts  are 


218  The  English  Drama. 

not  his  plays,  though  they  have  not  detracted 
from  his  reputation.  They  comprise  "  Queen 
Mary"  (1875),  "Harold"  (1877),  "  The  Fal- 
con "  (1879),  "  The  Cup  "  (1881),  "  The  Prom- 
ise of  May  "  (1882),  "  Becket  "  (1884). 

The  most  brilliant  satirist  and  humorist  of 
the  century  is  unquestionably  William 
Schwenk  Gilbert  (1836-  ).  Notwith- 
standing that  he  was  educated  for  a  barrister 
and  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  devoted  himself 
to  literature,  later  especially  to  play-writing. 
His  fairy  comedies  "  The  Palace  of  Truth  " 
(1870),  "Pygmalion  and  Galathea "  (1871), 
"  The  Wicked  World  "  (1873),  and  "  Broken 
Hearts"  (1876),  met  with  unusual  and  de- 
served success.  One  of  his  cleverest  works 
is  a  burlesque  comedy,  "Engaged"  (1877), 
which  is  as  scintillating  with  wit  as  it  is 
pointed  in  satire.  In  1878  appeared  "  Ne'er 
do  Well,"  a  farce.  Subsequently  Mr.  Gilbert 
has  applied  his  energies  to  supplying  the 
librettos  for  that  very  popular  series  of 
comic  operas,  "  Pinafore,"  "  The  Pirates  of 
Penzance,"  "  Patience,"  H  Iolanthe,"  "  Mika- 
do," "Yeoman  of  the  Guard,"  "The  Gon- 
doliers," etc.  In  November,  1883,  Miss  Mary 
Anderson  produced  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre, 
London,  the  play  upon  which  Mr.   Gilbert's 


The  English  Drama.  219 

claim  to  excellence  will  probably  be  judged, 
"Comedy  and  Tragedy."  This  remarkable 
little  drama  comprehends  in  one  act  all  the 
various  shades  of  comedy  and  tragedy,  and 
is  highly  effective,  from  both  a  literary  and 
dramatic  point  of  view.  Although  open  to 
criticism  on  historical  grounds,  it  is  neverthe- 
less one  of  the  most  important  contributions 
of  the  decade.  "Comedy  and  Tragedy"  is 
its  author's  chief  serious  attempt.  His  first 
work  was  "  Dulcimara  "  (1866). 

We  have  spoken  already  of  the  fashion  that 
grew  up  of  transforming  the  novel  into  the 
play,  and  of  the  impediment  it  became  to 
original  effort.  But  this  was  not  the  only 
discouragement  the  young  dramatist  of  that 
time,  i860  to  1880,  encountered  in  London. 
Not  only  did  the  manager  find  it  safer  and 
more  profitable  to  produce  a  version  of  some 
popular  novel  than  an  untried  play,  but  like- 
wise was  it  discovered  what  a  profitable  in- 
vestment an  adapted  or  translated  Parisian 
success  was.  Although  the  custom  of  pro- 
ducing such  plays  was  an  ancient  one,  it  had 
never  been  so  remunerative.  The  result  was 
that  for  a  score  of  years  foreign  plays  held 
the  stage  of  the  best  London  theatres,  just  as 
they  did  so  long  the  New  York  theatres.      It 


220  The  English  £>ra??ia. 

was  held  to  be  folly  to  risk  money  on  the 
production  of  a  native  play,  whose  attractive 
power  was  uncertain,  when  favorite  conti- 
nental plays  might  be  obtained,  whose  popu- 
larity was  in  a  measure  secured.  During 
this  period  were  introduced  in  England, 
chiefly  by  adaptations,  in  America  by  trans- 
lations, the  works  of  Dumas,  Scribe,  D'En- 
nerry,  Sardou,  etc.  The  most  famous  of 
these  plays  being  "  Adrienne  L'Ecouvre," 
"  Camille,"  "  The  Two  Orphans,"  "  A  Scrap 
of  Paper,"  "  Diplomacy,"  "  Fedora." 

The  eagerness  with  which  the  public 
accepted  these  Gallic  productions  drew  atten- 
tion to  the  advantages  and  embellishments  of 
the  French  drama,  and  to  the  opportunities 
France  and  her  people  offer  for  dramatic  study. 
English  writers  began  to  choose  French  sub- 
jects and  French  scenes  and  characters.  The 
most  excellent  of  these  compositions,  in  fact 
one  of  the  best  plays  of  the  age,  is  Merivale 
and  Grove's  "  Forget-Me-Not,"  produced 
August  21st,  1879,  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre, 
London,  by  Miss  Genevieve  Ward.  The 
Saturday  Review,  of  August  the  13th,  1879, 
has  this  to  say  of  the  above-mentioned  play  : 

"  '  Forget-Me-Not '  has,  in  a  marked  degree, 
the  combined  strength  and  brightness  which 


The  English  Drama.  221 

belongs  to  the  best  examples  of  the  contem- 
porary French  drama,  and  it  has  the  advan- 
tage of  not  turning  on  conjugal  infidelity. 
The  leading  idea  of  the  piece  is  entirely  new  ; 
the  construction  is  good,  and  the  dialogue  is 
pointed,  brilliant  and  natural." 

Like  all  successful  efforts,  it  has  had  a  host 
of  inferior  imitators. 

Another  dramatic  sensation,  and,  in  a  way, 
an  important  event,  was  the  appearance  about 
this  time  of  "  The  Danites,"  by  Joaquin  Miller. 
A  well-written,  genuine  American  play  was  a 
most  agreeable  novelty.  A  number  of  plays, 
extravagant  in  characters  and  absurd  or 
improbable  in  theme,  such  as  "  The  Gilded 
Age"  and  "The  Mighty  Dollar,"  had  served 
as  vehicles  for  the  peculiar  talents  of  some 
celebrated  actor,  but  had  never  deserved  the 
name  of  American  Plays.  "The  Danites" 
supplied  this  deficiency.  It  is  a  melodrama, 
full  of  attractive  freshness  and  novelty,  telling 
a  story  of  human  interest,  and  picturing 
naturally  a  life  peculiar  to  our  pioneer  civiliza- 
tion. 

What  has  been  said  in  this  lecture  will 
apply,  in  a  general  way,  to  the  American  as 
well  as  the  English  theatre.  America,  prior 
to  1850,  had   no   drama  ;  and  with   the  spirit 


The  English  Drama. 


and  dash  characteristic  of  the  land,  has 
endeavored  to  accomplish  in  forty  years  what 
has  taken  England  three  centuries.  So  well 
has  she  succeeded,  that,  though  we  have  no 
great  dramatic  poets  as  yet,  we  have  attempted, 
with  moderate  success,  the  various  phases  of 
the  play,  and  are  to-day  sending  our  dramas 
to  London,  and  having  them  translated  into 
foreign  languages.  A  short  sketch  of  our 
leading  New  York  stock  theatres  will  gi,ve  the 
best  possible  idea  of  what  has  been  done  for 
the  drama  in  this  country. 

In  1852  Brougham's  Lyceum  passed  into 
the  hands  of  James  Wallack,  and  became 
known  as  Wallack's  Lyceum.  In  time  a  new 
house  was  built,  and  the  name  Wallack's  alone 
was  retained.  Under  the  management  of 
James  Wallack,  and  afterwards  of  his  son 
Lester,  Wallack's  Theatre  was  the  standard 
for  all  that  was  best  in  the  dramatic  line  in 
the  United  States.  Particularly  were  the  old 
comedy  productions  famous.  Unfortunately 
the  theatre  did  not  keep  apace  with  the  times, 
and  in  the  eighties  began  to  lose  its  position. 
The  cause  was  undoubtedly  its  persistent 
loyalty  to  England,  to  which  country  it 
looked  almost  exclusively  for  its  plays,  many 
of  which,  when  produced,  were  neither  men- 


The  English  Drama.  223 

torious  nor  popular.  In  1889  the  company 
ceased  to  exist,  and  the  theatre,  which  was  at 
that  time  its  home,  became  a  "  combination  " 
house. 

For  many  years  Augustin  Daly  has  been  a 
prominent  manager  of  New  York  at  different 
theatres.  His  early  management  was  marked 
by  the  production  of  translations  from  the 
French,  such  as  "  Frou-Frou,"  and  some  Eng- 
lish and  American  plays.  For  about  eleven 
years  Mr.  Daly  has  occupied  the  pretty  little 
theatre  on  Broadway  and  Thirtieth  Street, 
known  as  Daly's,  which  he  has  made  the 
home  of  the  leading  comedy  company  of  the 
country.  His  productions  have  consisted  of 
adaptations  from  the  best  French  and  Ger- 
man farce  comedies,  and  in  revivals  of 
the  comedies  of  Shakespeare  and  the 
Restoration  dramatists.  His  most  successful 
revivals  have  been  "  The  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor,"  "  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew," 
"  The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "  As  You 
Like  It,"  "  The  Country  Girl,"  "  The  Incon- 
stant," and  "  She  Would  and  She  Would 
Not." 

Mr.  A.  M.  Palmer,  whose  name  is  so  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  Union  Square 
Theatre  of  the  past,  and  the  Madison  Square 


224  The  English  Drama. 

Theatre  of  the  present,  has  the  reputation  of 
having  produced  fewer  failures  than  any  man- 
ager in  America.  The. Union  Square,  under 
Mr.  Palmer's  management  saw  the  successful 
production  of  M.  Feuillet's  "  Tentation,"  and 
"  Un-Roman  Parisien  ";  D'Ennerry's  "The 
Two  Orphans  "  ;  Bronson  Howard's  "  Ban- 
ker's Daughter";  Bartley  Campbell's  "My 
Partner"  ;  Sardou's  "Andrea"  and  "Daniel 
Rochat  "  ;  Belot  and  Nus'  "  Miss  Multon  " 
and  "The  Danicheffs,"  "The  Celebrated 
Case,"  "  Rose  Michel,"  etc.,  etc.  The  Madi- 
son Square  Theatre,  under  its  first  manage- 
ment, was  given  up  exclusively  to  the  pro- 
duction of  plays  by  American  dramatists. 
Here  appeared  Steele  Mackaye's  "  Hazel 
Kirke";  Mrs.  Burnett  and  W.  H.  Gillette's 
"  Esmeralda " ;  and  Bronson  Howard's 
"Young  Mrs.  Winthrop."  Under  Mr. 
Palmer's  management  we  have  seen  the 
English  successes  "  Jim,  The  Penman," 
"  Captain  Swift  "  and  "  Aunt  Jack  "  ;  also  the 
native  plays  "  Sealed  Instructions "  and 
"  Elaine." 

The  Lyceum  Theatre  has  continued  the 
policy  inaugurated  by  the  Madison  Square. 
Here  have  been  presented  Howard's  "  One  of 
Our  Girls  "  ;  De  Mille  and  Belasco's  "  The 


The  English  Drama.  225 


Wife"  and  "  The  Charity  Bali"  ;  and   Belas- 
co's  "  Lord  Chumley." 

To-day  the  metropolitan  theatres  of  Eng- 
land and  America  present  a  singularly  cosmo- 
politan appearance.  But  not  only  may  the 
drama  in  its  various  phases  of  nationality  be 
observed  in  the  same  evening,  but  also  in  the 
different  stages  of  its  development.  English, 
American,  French,  German,  Italian  ;  even 
Chinese  plays  have  been  given  almost 
simultaneously.  To-night  (March,  1890),  may 
be  seen  in  the  city  of  New  York  Shake- 
spearean tragedy,  Shakespearean  comedy, 
farce-comedy,  French  melodrama,  American 
comedy-drama,  an  American  farce,  an  Ameri- 
can comedy,  two  American  rural  plays,  an 
American  military  drama,  German  grand 
opera,  German  comic  opera,  German  comedy, 
German  tragedy,  American  melodrama,  one 
of  Sheridan's  comedies,  an  English  comic 
opera,  an  English  melodrama  and  an  Eng- 
lish comedy-drama. 


FINIS. 


226  The  English  JJra;, 


REFERENCES. 

i.  Sharpe's  "  Coventry  Mysteries." 

2.  "The  York  Plays,"  Lucy  Toulman  Smith. 

3.  Ward's    "History    of    English    Dramatic 

Literature." 

4.  Collier's  "Annals  of  the  Stage." 

5.  Dodsley's  Old  Plays. 

6.  Doran's  "Annals  of  the  Stage." 

7.  "  Shakespeare's  Predecessors  in  the  Eng- 

lish Drama,"  John  Addington  Sym- 
onds. 

8.  "  Shakespeare's  Complete  Works,"  G.  L. 

Duyckinck. 

9.  Augustus  Wilhelm  Schlegel's  "  Dramatic 

Art  and  Literature." 

10.  H.  A.  Taine's  "  History  of  English  Liter- 

ature." 

11.  S.  T.    Coleridge's  "  Notes   and    Lectures 

on  Shakespeare." 

12.  H.  Ulrici's  "  Shakespeare's  Dramatic  Art." 

13.  The    Works    of    Jonson,    Beaumont   and 

Fletcher,  Ford,  Webster,  Marston, 
Dekker,  Massinger,  Middleton,  Hey- 
wood,  Shirley,  etc.,  etc. 


The  English  Drama.  22J 

14.  "  Life  of  David  Garrick." 

15.  "  Memoirs  of  the  Coleman  Family,"  R.  B. 

Peake. 

16.  "  Life  of  Sheridan,"  Thos.  Moore. 

17.  Mrs.  Inchbold's  "British  Theatre." 

18.  The  Works  of  Congreve,  Wycherly,  Far- 

quhar,  Vanbrugh,  Centlivre,  Etherege, 
Otway,  Davenant,  Lillo,  Foote,  O'- 
Keefe,  Cumberland,  Colman,  Gold- 
smith, Sheridan,  Knowles,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

19.  The  Works  of  Baillie,  Milman,  Mitford, 

Byron,  DeVere,  Browning,  Swinburne, 
Tennyson,  Knowles,  Boucicault,  Meri- 
vale,  Howard,  etc.,  etc. 

20.  "  The  Saturday  Review,"  London  (1869- 

1889). 

21.  "  The  New  York  Clipper." 

22.  "The  Theatres." 


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